Congress to investigate allegations of ‘ordering kills’ in Venezuelan boat attack
The Senate Armed Services Committee is investigating an alleged “order to kill” during a military attack on a Venezuelan ship near Trinidad.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is facing increased scrutiny from lawmakers over its attack on a suspected drug ship after reports the U.S. military conducted a second deadly attack on a ship in the Caribbean, killing two survivors clinging to the wreckage.
Lawmakers on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees issued two bipartisan statements over the weekend announcing they would scrutinize the administration’s actions to determine the circumstances of the Sept. 2 attack on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel that some experts say violates the law.
“Obviously, if that happened, it would be very serious. And I agree that it’s illegal,” Rep. Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said on “Face the Nation” on Nov. 30.
According to the Washington Post, the additional strikes came after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth gave verbal instructions to “kill them all.” Hegseth said the report was “fabricated,” and President Donald Trump told reporters that the Pentagon chief denied issuing the order. The White House confirmed on December 1 that there had been a second attack.
Several Democratic senators said on November 30 that the additional reported attacks could constitute a war crime, with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine saying on “Face the Nation” that “if this is true, it rises to the level of a war crime.”
“I think it’s very likely that a war crime was committed,” Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said on ABC News’ “This Week.”
He added that this would require an assessment that the United States is at war with drug smugglers. “Of course they never released the information they got here to the public. If that theory is wrong, it’s just murder.”
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said in a Dec. 1 news conference that a second attack occurred and that Hegseth authorized Admiral Frank M. Bradley, who in the first report was said to have given official orders to follow the Secretary of Defense’s instructions, to carry out the attack.
“Regarding the attack in question on September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic attacks. Admiral Bradley worked well within that authority and the laws directing the engagement, ensuring the destruction of the boat and eliminating the threat to the United States,” Levitt said.
Mr. Levitt said Mr. Bradley issued the order and was “well within his authority to do so,” arguing that the incidents occurred because the United States designated drug traffickers as foreign terrorist organizations.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed (Rhode Island), said in a joint statement on Friday evening that they were aware of the recent reports and the Department of Defense’s initial response and “will conduct vigorous monitoring to determine the facts surrounding these situations.”
Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Democratic Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the committee’s ranking member, also committed to oversight in a separate joint statement.
“This committee is committed to rigorously monitoring Department of Defense military operations in the Caribbean. We are taking seriously reports of additional attacks on boats suspected of transporting narcotics in the Southcom region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full description of the operations in question,” the lawmakers said in a Nov. 29 statement.
The revelations came amid a series of warnings from the president that he could soon carry out ground attacks against Venezuelan drug traffickers.
President Trump told the military on Thanksgiving Day: “We’re going to start interdicting them from the ground as well. It’s easier on the ground, but it’s going to start quickly.”
President Trump said over the weekend that pilots should consider closing the country’s airspace, and on Nov. 30 he told reporters he had spoken to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but did not say what they discussed.
Top Democrats on the House committees introduced a resolution last month that seeks to prevent the administration from carrying out future attacks on targets related to drug-trafficking operations without Congressional approval.
Mr. Kaine is also pushing a bill in the Senate that would force President Trump to seek Congressional approval for any military action by the U.S. military in or against Venezuela. Two Republican senators, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted with Democrats last month. The bill was rejected 49-51 in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Mr. Paul is a co-sponsor of the bill and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. He has strongly criticized the government for killing suspected human traffickers without holding trials.
After additional reported attacks, Mr. Cain stepped up his attacks again. “The time has come for Congress to rein in a president who decides to go to war on his own terms. The Constitution does not allow that,” he said on November 30.
“Under our Constitution, the sole authority to declare war rests with Congress, not the president, and Congress has not authorized the use of military force against Venezuela,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement on November 28.
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires the president to consult Congress on military action. President Trump has maintained that he does not need Congressional authority to carry out the airstrikes. The administration directed lawmakers to a confidential opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of the General Counsel, which Democrats argued did not justify the attack.
Turner, a Democrat from Ohio, said Congress had “grave concerns” about the attack and the “legal justification presented” and said additional reported attacks were “totally outside the scope” of discussions with lawmakers.
After the report was released, several Democratic politicians called for Hegseth to resign.
