WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday the Pentagon will not publicly release raw footage of the strike that killed two survivors of an initial boat attack. The attack in the Caribbean was on a vessel suspected of carrying cocaine.
The announcement comes after intense skepticism arose from Congress about the incident.
Hegseth confirmed that members of the Armed Services Committee in the House and Senate would have the chance this week to review the video.
The Defense Secretary spoke to reporters as he left a closed-door briefing with lawmakers.
“Of course, we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” he announced.
Members of Trump’s Cabinet in charge of national security were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The personnel sought to defend the campaign across Latin America, which has killed at least 95 people. The U.S. has struck at least 25 vessels.
They deemed the U.S. efforts a success, claiming that it has prevented drugs from arriving in the country. Additionally, they pushed back on worries that it is surpassing the bounds of legal warfare.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed to reporters that the campaign is a “counter-drug mission,” stating that the mission is “focused on dismantling the infrastructure of these terrorist organizations that are operating in our hemisphere, undermining the security of Americans, killing Americans, poisoning Americans.”
On the eve of the briefings, the U.S. military announced an additional attack. It struck three more boats suspected of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The attack killed eight people.
President Donald Trump has also increased pressure recently. Late Tuesday, he announced a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers entering and exiting Venezuela.
Some lawmakers speculate that the refusal to release showcases the flawed justification of the campaign.
“The American public ought to see it. I think shooting unarmed people floundering in the water, clinging to wreckage, is not who we are as people, expressed Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican.
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