Washington – President Trump said Sunday he “wouldn’t want” a second strike on a suspected drug vessel earlier this year, as he vowed to look into the issue that has raised concerns among lawmakers.
“The first strike was very deadly, it was fine and there were two people around,” the president told reporters on Air Force One. “But Pete said that didn’t happen. I have a lot of confidence in him.”
The Washington Post notify On Friday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered no survivors in the first US raid on a suspected drug-smuggling ship in the Caribbean in September. The Post reported that the first strike left two survivors in the water, and that the commander of the operation ordered a second strike to carry out Hegseth’s order, killing the survivors.
says Hegseth called He called the report “fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory” and said the Caribbean operations were “legal under both US and international law”.
CBS News has not independently confirmed the Washington Post report.
The report raised concerns among lawmakers and experts, including a group of former military lawyers he argued In his assessment on Saturday, he stated that the second strike would be a violation of international or domestic law. In Congress, leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees pledged to investigate the reported follow-up strike. And Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia he said The follow-up strike, reported on Sunday’s “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” “rises to the level of a war crime if true,” while Ohio GOP Rep. Mike Turner admitted it would be “an illegal act” if true.
The president defended Hegseth on Sunday, telling reporters several times that the defense secretary told him he never issued the order.
Pete Marovich/Getty Images 
“I don’t know if that happened and Pete said he didn’t want them, he didn’t even know what people were talking about,” Mr Trump said.
The president said, “I’ll report it, but Pete said he didn’t order the death of those two men.”
This is because the US has carried out about two ship attacks in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean since the first attack on September 2nd.
Asked by CBS News if he had any concerns about boat attacks, Mr Trump said “very little, because you see the boats, you can see the drugs on the boats, and every boat is responsible for killing 25,000 Americans.”
“The amount of drugs arriving in our country by sea is infinitesimal compared to a few months ago,” said the president.