White House says admiral ordered follow-up strike on alleged drug boat, insists attack was lawful

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Monday that a Navy admiral acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered a second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea in a September U.S. military operation that has come under bipartisan scrutiny.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered the justification for the Sept. 2 strike as lawmakers announced there will be congressional review of the U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The lawmakers cited a published report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for a second strike that killed survivors on the boat.

Navy Vice Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who Leavitt said ordered the second strike, is expected to provide a classified briefing Thursday to lawmakers overseeing the military.

Leavitt in her comments to reporters did not dispute a Washington Post report that there were survivors after the initial strike. Her explanation came after President Donald Trump a day earlier said he “wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike” when asked about the incident.

“Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” said Leavitt. “Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.”

Late Monday, Hegseth posted: “Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.”

A month after the strike, Bradley was promoted from commander of Joint Special Operations Command to commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.

Concern over the Trump administration’s military strikes against the alleged drug-smuggling boats has been building in Congress, but details of this follow-on strike stunned many lawmakers from both parties and generated stark questions about the legality of the attacks and the overall strategy in the region, and particularly toward Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The lawmakers said they did not know whether last week’s Post report was true, and some Republicans were skeptical. Still, they said the reported attacking of survivors of an initial missile strike posed serious concerns and merited further scrutiny.

The White House weighed in after Trump on Sunday vigorously defended Hegseth.

“Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” Trump said. He added, “And I believe him.”

Leavitt said Hegseth has spoken with members of Congress who may have expressed some concerns about the reports over the weekend.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also spoke over the weekend with the two Republican and two Democratic lawmakers leading the Senate and House Armed Services committees. He reiterated “his trust and confidence in the experienced commanders at every echelon,” Caine’s office said in a statement.

The statement added that the call focused on “addressing the intent and legality of missions to disrupt illicit trafficking networks which threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere.”

Congress wants answers

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday broadly defended the operations, echoing the Trump administration position that they’re necessary to stem the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States.

Thune said the committees in Congress will look into what happened. “I don’t think you want to draw any conclusions or deductions until you have all the facts,” he said of the Sept. 2 strike. “We’ll see where they lead.”

After the Post’s report, Hegseth said Friday on X that “fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.”

“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict — and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” Hegseth wrote.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called Hegseth a “national embarrassment” over his response to critics. Schumer demanded that Hegseth release the video of the strike and testify under oath about what happened.

Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pledged that his panel’s investigation would be “done by the numbers.”

“We’ll find out the ground truth,” he said, adding that the ramifications of the report were “serious charges.”

Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the committee, who also called for the administration to release the video of the strike, said its inquiry would start “with briefings about what actually happened” from the officials involved.

“If they’ve done nothing wrong, then that video should exonerate them completely. Why don’t they release it?” he asked.

In the House, Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chair of its Armed Services Committee, said he was “satisfied” following a conversation with Hegseth on the attack, but that he also wanted to hear from Bradley.

“We’ll all have clarity on Thursday afternoon,” Rogers said.

Venezuela’s president reacts

Trump met later Monday with his national security team to discuss the ongoing operations and potential next steps against Venezuela.

The U.S. administration says the strikes are aimed at drug cartels, some of which it claims are controlled by Maduro. Trump also is weighing whether to carry out strikes on the Venezuelan mainland.

Trump confirmed Sunday that he had recently spoken by phone with Maduro but declined to detail the conversation.

Speaking to supporters in Caracas on Monday, Maduro said U.S. pressure has “tested” the country but Venezuelans are ready “to defend it and lead it to the path of peace.”

“We have lived through 22 weeks of aggression that can only be described as psychological terrorism,” Maduro said.

The September strike was one in a series carried out by the U.S. military in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean as Trump has ordered the buildup of a fleet of warships near Venezuela, including the largest U.S. aircraft carrier. More than 80 people have been killed in the strikes.

Venezuela’s National Assembly has announced the launch of an investigation into the lethal strikes. Sunday’s announcement by the Assembly’s president, Jorge Rodríguez, was the first time that a Maduro government official explicitly acknowledged that Venezuelans have been killed in the monthslong U.S. military operation.

Rodríguez, Maduro’s chief negotiator, said a group of lawmakers will come together to investigate “the serious events that led to the murder of Venezuelans in the waters of the Caribbean Sea.”

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Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Lisa Mascaro and Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.