Trump fires off furious expletive as he's grilled on 'war crime' strike on drug smugglers
By Jon Michael Raasch
Daily Mail
Dec 2, 2025
President Donald Trump and Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth batted down concerns that a September strike on alleged Venezuelan narco-terrorists amounted to a war crime after the US authorized a follow-up strike on the vessel during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday
President Donald Trump and Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth lauded the commander in charge of authorizing controversial lethal strikes on Venezuelan drug boats on Tuesday.
The White House has been dealing with a cascade of critical headlines and congressional scrutiny of its actions against alleged narco-terrorists in the Caribbean.
So far, the administration has authorized over 20 strikes on alleged drug-running boats that have resulted in over 80 deaths.
'We're taking those son of a b****es out,' Trump said when pressed by reporters during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting on a September mission that required multiple airstrikes that some of the president's critics have chalked up to a 'war crime.'
'[Biden] allowed them into our country, totally unvetted, totally unchecked. But he also allowed drugs to come in at record numbers.'
Letting Hegseth answer detailed questions on who authorized the follow-up strike in September, the secretary noted the commanding officer, Admiral Frank Bradley, was well within his lane in ordering a second bombardment.
However, Democrats in Congress have likened the attack to a 'war crime' because, under international law, targeting the wounded is disallowed.
'How do you treat al Qaeda and ISIS? Do you arrest them and treat them, pat them on the head and say, Don't do that again. Or you end the problem directly by taking a lethal, kinetic approach?' Hegseth told reporters.
'We're taking those son of a b****es out,' Trump said of the strikes on alleged narco-terrorist boats in the Caribbean
The White House has regularly been posting declassified videos of the US military's strikes on alleged narco-terrorists
Hegseth praised military professionals for the 'deliberative ... rigorous' process that they undertook to make sure the boats were tied to terrorism.
A report last Friday from the Washington Post claimed that Hegseth gave verbal orders to ensure there were no survivors - a claim that the Daily Mail has not verified and the White House strongly pushes back on.
'Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law,' while conducting the operation with multiple strikes, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday.
The administration has claimed its strikes on the alleged drug boats are in defense of American citizens.
Trump also opened the door to striking other countries that send drugs to the US.
'I want those boats taken out, and if we have to, we will attack on land also,' he said. 'Anybody that's doing that and selling it into our country is subject to attack ... not just Venezuela.'
The Republican specifically noted how cocaine production in Colombia is still rampant and that drugs there are being sent to the US.
Trump has decried how drugs like fentanyl and cocaine being sent into the US from Venezuela have resulted in thousands of drug overdose deaths.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been seen dancing to anti-war songs at his rallies while US forces gather in the Caribbean
Estimates suggest a quarter of a million Americans have died from fentanyl-related overdoses since 2021.
Still, one critique is that only a small portion of the fentanyl bound for the US actually originates in Venezuela.
'Fentanyl is not coming out of Venezuela. Fentanyl comes from Mexico,' said Christopher Hernandez-Roy, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, D.C., recently told NBC News. 'What's coming out of Venezuela is cocaine.'
The US has deployed nearly a dozen warships, a submarine, over 70 aircraft and 15,000 soldiers to the Caribbean in recent months.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been seen dancing to anti-war songs at his rallies, signifying he does not want conflict with the US.
No comments:
Post a Comment