After a recent deadly strike against an alleged drug-running boat in the Caribbean came to light — an attack in which U.S. forces reportedly killed survivors clinging to the wreckage — even Republicans in Congress are demanding answers.
Bipartisan leaders of the armed services committees on Capitol Hill, in both chambers, say they are reviewing the White House’s operation in the Caribbean and promising “vigorous” and “rigorous” oversight.
“The committee is going to conduct oversight. It’s our constitutional responsibility,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He called the charges “serious.”
“The American people deserve to know exactly what happened,” said Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., a member of the panel.
For weeks, the ongoing boat strikes have triggered bipartisan concerns in Washington, with some Republicans joining Democrats in questioning the legal authority that the Trump administration is using to conduct the operations.
But the questions only intensified over the holiday weekend, when The Washington Post reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had directed officials to “kill everybody” on a boat that was believed to be carrying drugs, a person with direct knowledge of the operation told the outlet.
The Trump administration initially dismissed the report as “fake news” but then verified key details about the strike, prompting more Republicans to call for greater transparency.
“If there was a direction to take a second shot and kill people, that’s a violation of an ethical, moral or legal code,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. “We need to get to the bottom of it.”
(Tillis added that it “could be rage bait, too, so we want to get to the facts.”)
Rep. Derek Schmidt, R-Kan., a member of the House Armed Services Committee, echoed that sentiment, telling reporters that it’s “important to find out what the facts actually are.”
Even the top Republican, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, wasn’t jumping to the administration’s defense. He declined to call the Caribbean strikes a war crime, but he said he wanted to compare what happened to “the correct, lawful way to do things.”
Of course, the scope of a congressional investigation remains unclear. Wicker sidestepped a question from reporters Monday as to whether he would call in Hegseth to testify, maintaining instead that “we will definitely be conducting all the oversight.”
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Monday that while there’s opportunity for a “meaningful investigation,” he believed Hegseth and the White House were lying. “But that’s no surprise, because they lie for a living,” Jeffries said.
“It’s my understanding that Pete Hegseth, the so-called secretary of defense, was absolutely involved,” Jeffries said, adding that he believed there would be “bipartisan investigations in both the House and in the Senate in order to determine whether war crimes were committed.”
After striking a defiant tone over the weekend, posting an altered image of a children’s cartoon turtle killing “narco terrorists,” Hegseth seemed to change tack on Monday night, backing the admiral who allegedly ordered the second strike while decidedly shifting blame toward him.
Of course, not every Republican was alarmed.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., raised questions about the veracity of the Post report. “I think it’s typical Washington Post bullshit,” he said.
Similarly, Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., told MS NOW, “I don’t put a whole lot of stock in the Washington Post, so it’s not even worth a commentary.”
And Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., defended the strikes, saying “some of those boats,” or even all of them, “as we understand it” are “carrying narcotics which do provide real harm or death to the American people.”
But notable GOP voices are criticizing the Trump administration’s Venezuela strikes this week.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, suggested that the strikes mentioned in the Post report were a violation of the laws of war.
“I think what we have heard shocked us all,” Murkowski said. “And I think most would say that when you have two individuals that are literally floating in the water, a second order to kill them all is not something that we would consider within the rules of war.”
Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.V., told MS NOW he is also uncomfortable with reports of a second strike.
“I’m not happy with all the drug issues and everything, and they’re cannibalizing us,” Justice said. But he added that it would be “really harsh to think that we have defenseless people, you know, and we do a second strike.”
Although Justice ultimately praised Hegseth — he’s doing a “really good job,” Justice said — Thune was even more reserved in his defense of the secretary than usual.
When asked about Hegseth’s leadership at the Department of Defense, Thune demurred. “I don’t have — at this point, I guess — an evaluation of the secretary. Others can make those evaluations,” Thune said.
Meanwhile, Democrats are roundly sounding the alarm about the Post report, with several arguing that it only underscores that it’s time for Hegseth to go.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Hegseth “should be fired or resign or at the very least [be] put on leave while these investigations are ongoing.”
“What happened here, assuming that the reports are credible, is murder or war crimes or both, and someone committed them, but ultimately he is responsible,” Blumenthal said.
Rosen, in a statement, said, “It’s deeply shameful that the Secretary of Defense would violate the laws of armed conflict and put our brave servicemembers in this position. He should resign immediately.”
And Jeffries labeled Hegseth the “most unqualified secretary of defense in American history” — noting that he previously called for the secretary to be fired earlier this year for discussing war plans over the messaging app Signal.
Still, when asked whether Democrats should actively try to impeach Hegseth — a move Jeffries could initiate himself and force a vote in the House — Jeffries downplayed that option.
“Republicans will never allow articles of impeachment to be brought to the floor of the House,” Jeffries said. “Donald Trump will order them not to do it.”
Syedah Asghar contributed to this report.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
Kevin Frey is a congressional reporter for MS NOW.