Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth refused to commit to releasing video footage of the controversial second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea.
During a Saturday defense forum hosted at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Hegseth was repeatedly pressed on whether or not he would publish footage of the lethal strike, which took place on September 2.
“We’re reviewing the process, and we’ll see,” he said. “Whatever we were to decide to release, we’d have to be very responsible about reviewing that right now.”
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said he would support releasing the video. “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have we’ll certainly release, no problem,” the president told reporters on Wednesday.
Hegseth has said that he did not personally oversee the second strike, but that the admiral in charge, Frank “Mitch” Bradley, “made the right call” and acted within the confines of the law.
The defense secretary’s comments come as he has faced growing scrutiny over the second strike, described colloquially as a “double tap”. The follow-up strike was launched after two survivors of an initial strike were seen clinging to the wrecked vessel.
The Washington Post first reported on the follow-up strike in late November, with a source familiar with the operation claiming “The order was to kill everybody.” Hegseth has vehemently denied this telling of events, and on Saturday he attacked the outlet, saying “Is anybody here fromThe Washington Post? I don’t know where you get your sources but they suck.”
“You don’t walk in and say ‘Kill them all.’ It’s just patently ridiculous,” he continued. He then claimed The Post’s reporting was “meant to create a cartoon of me and the decisions that we make.”
On Thursday, Admiral Bradley, the Navy SEAL officer who leads U.S. Special Operations Command, showed lawmakers footage of the two strikes conducted on September 2 and answered questions.
Reactions were largely split along partisan lines. Democratic Rep. Jim Himes called the footage “one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.” Republican Senator Tom Cotton labeled the strikes “righteous” and “entirely lawful.”
The broader campaign of striking alleged drug boats — which have killed at least 86 people — has also been subject to significant controversy. Some lawmakers and human rights organizations have described it as plainly illegal. The Trump administration has said they are acting within their lawful authority to stop the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S.
During his remarks on Saturday, Hegseth indicated that the aerial attacks will continue.
“We’ll keep killing them so long as they’re poisoning our people with narcotics,” he said.
This sentiment is shared by Trump, who, earlier this week, suggested that strikes could soon take place “on land too.” Administration officials have also drawn up plans for possible military operations in Venezuela, where many of the strikes have occurred near.
“Because we know every route, we know every house where they manufacture this crap,” Trump said. “We know where they put it all together.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has denied that his country is involved in drug trafficking and has accused the Trump administration of “fabricating a new eternal war.”
Hegseth also addressed Signalgate, another controversy that surfaced earlier in his tenure.
This week, the Defense Department’s inspector general released long-awaited findings from an investigation into Hegseth’s use of a Signal chat to post details about a strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen. The inspector general concluded that the former FOX News’ anchor’s actions may have put U.S. personnel in harm’s way.
Asked if he would have done anything differently today, Hegseth said, “I don’t live with any regrets.”
