President Donald Trump said on Monday that he never agreed to release video of a second U.S. military strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean, walking back comments he made last week as bipartisan scrutiny of the operation intensifies. Selected lawmakers have viewed the full footage behind closed doors and are divided over whether it should be made public.
The dispute centers on a "double-tap" strike conducted on September 2 on a boat that the Trump administration has said was trafficking illicit drugs toward the United States. The administration released a 29‑second unclassified video of the initial strike, but the full video of the follow‑up strike has so far been shown only to a limited number of members of Congress, according to the Daily Wire.
Last Wednesday, Trump signaled openness to disclosure, saying that "whatever" War Secretary Pete Hegseth's department had, "we'd certainly release, no problem," the Daily Wire reported. On Monday, however, he rejected that characterization during a White House exchange with reporters. When a reporter noted his earlier remark about having "no problem" with releasing the full video, Trump replied, "I didn't say that. You said that, I didn't say that," according to a CBS News exchange cited by the Daily Wire. He added, "Whatever Pete Hegseth wants to do is okay with me."
Hegseth has come under criticism from Democrats and some Republicans over the strike. Over the weekend, he said the administration is "reviewing the process" for any additional release and stressed that officials would need to be "very responsible" about what is made public, according to comments reported by CBS News and summarized by the Daily Wire. A closed‑door meeting is scheduled for Tuesday with Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and top intelligence committee lawmakers, where they are expected to face further questions about the operation, the Daily Wire reported.
In a POLITICO interview published Tuesday and referenced by the Daily Wire, Trump confirmed that he had watched the footage of the second strike, describing it as "not pretty" and saying it appeared "they were trying to turn back over the boat," while adding that he did not involve himself in targeting decisions. He reiterated his full confidence in Hegseth, saying, "He's doing a great job," and said he did not care whether Hegseth testified under oath about the strike.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who viewed the video, told reporters he found it unremarkable and said he would have "no problem" with releasing it publicly, according to the Daily Wire's account of his remarks. Cotton compared the strike to "any number of dozens of strikes" carried out on vehicles in the Middle East and said he did not find it "gruesome" or "distressing," though he acknowledged that the War Department might have tactical concerns about revealing details to drug cartels.
Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, offered a starkly different assessment. He described the footage as "deeply disturbing," saying it showed two survivors on an overturned, clearly incapacitated boat with no communications device and that they "certainly" appeared unarmed. Smith said the survivors were not trying to flip the boat over when they were ultimately killed and questioned claims that drugs had survived the attack, arguing that the two people in the water did not seem in any position "to continue the fight," according to POLITICO's reporting cited by the Daily Wire.
Since returning to office and stepping up efforts to block drug trafficking by sea, Trump has authorized a series of strikes on suspected "narcoterrorist" boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Beginning in September, those operations have destroyed 23 boats and killed 87 suspected drug runners, according to figures previously released by the administration and reported by the Daily Wire.
