Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied ordering the U.S. military to "kill everybody" and said news reports claiming such are "fake news."
Hegseth was responding to a report by the Washington Post on Friday that accused Hegseth of verbally ordering military personnel to kill all 11 crew members by carrying out a second strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel on Sept. 2.
That strike was the first of many targeting drug vessels in international waters, but the Washington Post only cited anonymous sources to back its claim, which the Defense Department has called fabricated and "fake news," according to The Guardian.
"We told the Washington Post that this entire narrative was false yesterday," Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said in a social media post on Friday.
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