PODCAST:
Dec. 3, 2025 ~ General Jack Keane joins Chris Renwick, Lloyd Jackson, and Jamie Edmonds to discuss President Donald Trump‘s cabinet meeting amid questions over a deadly double strike against an alleged drug boat from Venezuela in September. Photo: Jack Gruber ~ USA TODAY NETWORK
WASHINGTON D.C. ~ War crime accusations continue to fly towards Trump administration officials as scrutiny mounts over air strikes on a boat off the coast of Venezuela.
The strikes in question occurred on Sept. 2, with White House officials claiming that the boat was being used to smuggle illegal drugs, though they have refused to provide evidence for this claim. The first strike on the boat killed nine people, but on Nov. 28, The Washington Post reported that two survivors were clinging to the wreckage. A source with knowledge of the situation told the paper that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered “to kill everybody” and ordered a second strike.
This follow-up is also known as a “double tap,” and the U.S. military has utilized these many times in recent history, and has been controversial over potentially targeting the wounded and first responders. A Pentagon manual on the laws of war from 2023 states that the “wounded, sick, or shipwrecked” should not be directly targeted.
Hegseth has denied giving the order for the second strike, though White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the second strike on Dec. 1, claiming that Adm. Mitch Bradley gave the order.
This strike is part of a wider U.S. military campaign targeting alleged drug smuggling boats near Venezuela that has killed about 80 people so far. President Donald Trump has ordered a military buildup in the Caribbean, causing concern that the U.S. will invade the South American nation.
