US Congress seeks probe after report claims defence chief ordered deadly follow-up strike on drug boat

Republican-led Senate and House committees have pledged increased scrutiny of the Pentagon following a report that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the killing of all crew members aboard a vessel suspected of carrying drugs, according to the Washington Post.

US lawmakers are pressing the Trump administration for details regarding military strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug boats after claims that a follow-up strike was launched to kill survivors of an earlier attack.

On Friday, the Post reported that a US strike on 2 September left two survivors, but that a second attack was carried out to comply with Hegseth’s alleged instruction to “kill everybody” on board. Hegseth dismissed the report as “fake news”, and President Donald Trump said he believed him “100%”.

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The US has increased its military presence in the Caribbean and has conducted several lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in international waters off Venezuela and Colombia as part of an anti-narcotics operation. More than 80 people have been killed since early September. The Trump administration maintains that it is acting in self-defence by destroying boats carrying illicit drugs to the US.

Lawmakers call for oversight as legality questioned

The Washington Post reported that Hegseth “gave a spoken directive” to “kill everybody” on board one vessel, and that a Special Operations commander “ordered a second strike” to comply. Both Republican and Democrat lawmakers appearing on Sunday talk shows said they supported congressional reviews of the strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats. They said they did not know whether the report was accurate but noted that attacking survivors of an initial strike raised serious legal issues.

“This rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true,” Democrat Senator Tim Kaine told CBS Face the Nation. Republican lawmaker Mike Turner said Congress had no information confirming that a follow-up strike had occurred. “Obviously if that occurred, that would be very serious, and I agree that that would be an illegal act,” he said.

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Their remarks followed the Senate Armed Services Committee’s announcement on Friday that it planned “vigorous oversight” of the strikes. Committee chair Senator Roger Wicker and his Democrat counterpart Senator Jack Reed said in a joint statement that inquiries had been directed to the Department of Defence to establish the facts. The House Armed Services Committee also said it was “taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question”.

In a post on X, Hegseth rejected the accusation, calling it “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory”. He wrote that the strikes were “lawful under both US and international law” and added, “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, President Trump defended Hegseth, saying, “He said he did not say that. And I believe him a 100%.” Trump added that the administration “will look into” the matter and noted: “I wouldn’t have wanted that – not a second strike.”

On Sunday, Venezuela’s National Assembly condemned the strikes and pledged to conduct a “rigorous and thorough investigation” into the allegation that a second attack killed two survivors.If you’d like, I can also prepare a shorter, more punchy news-brief version.