Democrats Demand Release of ‘Troubling’ Boat-Strike Video After Admiral Briefing

After tense classified briefings with the admiral who oversaw Sept. 2 strikes on suspected drug smugglers on a boat in the Caribbean Sea, Democrats pressed the Pentagon on Thursday to release the full video so the public could determine whether two survivors were unlawfully killed in a second strike.

“Many questions would be answered if they released the video in total,” Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told NOTUS, calling the footage “disturbing.”

“If they have nothing to be concerned about, then it would be almost automatic,” Reed added.

Several lawmakers saw the footage in a closed-door briefing Thursday with Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs chair, and Adm. Frank M. Bradley, the special operations commander who oversaw the operation on Sept. 2 that killed alleged drug smugglers. The lawmakers were seeking answers on those strikes after The Washington Post reported that a verbal order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “kill everybody” prompted a second strike that killed two men who were seen clinging to the burning wreckage.

The second strike appears to have targeted injured survivors, a scenario that legal experts and many lawmakers say could violate the laws of war.

The administration has shifted its stories on the strikes. Hegseth initially blasted the story as “fabricated.” He initially said he “watched it live,” but later he said he left before the second strike and only learned of it hours later. President Donald Trump initially said he “didn’t know about the second strike.” The White House ultimately acknowledged that a second strike occurred but denied that Hegseth ordered it.

Trump has said he has “no problem” with releasing the full video. “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release,” he said. The footage of the first strike is already public.

“What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service,” Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told reporters after the briefing.

“Any American who sees the video that I saw will see the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors — bad guys, bad guys, but attacking shipwrecked sailors,” he added. “Yes, they were carrying drugs. They were not in the position to continue their mission in any way.”

How lawmakers viewed the footage appeared to break down largely along party lines. Sen. Tom Cotton told reporters after the briefing that he believed that the military followed the law.

“These were righteous strikes,” Sen. Cotton told reporters. “I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs back over so they could stay in the fight.”

Cotton also insisted that a central allegation in The Washington Post’s report — that there was a verbal order to kill everyone — was false.

“Adm. Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” Cotton said. “He was given an order that was written down in great detail, as our military always does, and a vocal order as well. There’s no vocal order either.”

Democrats said they still have a number of questions. After the briefing, Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, released a joint statement with Himes urging the Pentagon to make the footage public.

“The briefing left us with more questions than answers, and Congress must continue to investigate this matter and conduct oversight,” they said.

Reed said the legal opinion authorizing the strike campaign should also be made public. “Many of the questions are about authority,” he said. “And many are about what actually happened.”

“It’d be hard to watch the series of videos and not be troubled,” Sen. Chris Coons said. “Exactly how narcotics being trafficked in the eastern Caribbean justify repeated lethal strikes is something I have not yet been persuaded of. We normally interdict these boats with the Coast Guard and DEA. Why should these particular boats be struck by missiles?”

Coons also rejected Cotton’s interpretation of what the survivors were doing. “I did not come away with that impression,” he said.

Not all senators were able to review the footage. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called for an open hearing with Hegseth, Bradley and others involved.

“We need to see all of the documentation. We need to see the unedited videos,” she said. “The fact that the Department of Defense is still hiding them is a big red flag. What we are investigating is a potential war crime.”

Some Republicans who said they’d been updated on the briefing said they saw nothing improper. Sen. Pete Ricketts said the strike was “absolutely justified” and that The Washington Post’s report was “bogus.” Sen. Ted Budd said, “I have great trust in our armed services and the legal counsel they take during a strike, and I believe that they were operating within their authorities.”

But some want to see the footage. “The bottom line is we want the facts, and we expect that we’ll have that opportunity,” Sen. Mike Rounds said.