‘Throwing Hegseth under the bus?’ Trump statement on ‘second strike’ raises eyebrows

Lawmakers Suggest Follow-Up Boat Strike Could Be a War Crime
Top Republicans have joined Democrats in demanding answers about the escalating military campaign the Trump administration says is aimed at targeting drug traffickers.

A top Republican and Democrats in Congress suggested on Sunday that American military officials might have committed a war crime in President Trump’s offensive against boats in the Caribbean after a news report said that during one such attack, a follow-up strike was ordered to kill survivors.

The remarks came in response to a Washington Post report on Friday that said that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given a verbal order to kill everyone aboard boats suspected of smuggling drugs, and that this led a military commander to carry out a second strike to kill those who had initially survived an attack in early September.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/us/politics/trump-boat-strikes-war-crime.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5U8.gvIV.u5M4zPsogTCO