President Donald Trump said he "wouldn't have wanted a second strike" against an alleged drug vessel, following controversy stemming from a report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered all people aboard the vessel be killed.
Speaking to press aboard the Air Force one, Trump was asked specifically about the report and whether a second strike that finished off survivors would have been legal.
"I don't know that happened and Pete said he did not even know what people were talking about. We'll look into it. I wouldn't have wanted a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine. Pete said that didn't happen. I have great confidence. Pete said he didn't order the death of those two men," Trump said.
Reporter: If there were a second strike that killed wounded people, would that be legal?
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 30, 2025
Trump: I don’t know that happened and Pete said he did not even know what people were talking about. I wouldn’t have wanted a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine. pic.twitter.com/UYikol8Tc7
Trump was then asked if he had concerns on "how those boat strikes have been carried out," to which he said "very little." "You can see the drugs on those boats and each one is responsible for killing 25,000 Americans," Trump added.
Hegseth seems to be in hot water following the report, especially as Republican-led Committees in the House and the Senate announced they will conduct respective investigations regarding the incident.
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement along with Democratic counterpart Jack Reed vowing to investigate the reported order.
They claimed to be "aware of recent news report — and the Department of Defense's initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels," and said they will be conducting "vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances."
Likewise, the leaders of the House Armed Services Committee, including GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, said they are "taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question."
On Saturday, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu said Hegseth may have committed a war crime if the reporting is accurate.
In a social media publication, Lieu told Hegseth that he read the DOJ memo exempting military members involved in the deployment in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific from prosecution and nothing in it "or military law, authorizes a second kinetic strike against defenseless survivors."
"If the reports are true, then a war crime was committed. Also there is generally no statute of limitations for war crimes," Lieu added.
The report in question noted that Hegseth ordered that all people aboard the vessel be killed by a U.S. strike in September, prompting the military to conduct a second strike to finish off survivors.
Citing two people with knowledge of the operation, the outlet detailed that a second strike was conducted to kill two survivors of the first strike, which had already destroyed the vessel and killed nine.
Originally published on Latin Times
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