President Donald Trump on Sunday said Pete Hegseth told him he didn’t order the killing of all people aboard a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean struck by the U.S. military in September, as pressure continues to mount on the defense secretary over an explosive Washington Post report published on Friday.
The article recounted a Sept. 2 attack the U.S. military performed on one vessel carrying 11 people. After the original missile strike on the boat went off, commanders, watching through a drone live feed, noticed two survivors holding onto the wreckage, The Post said. The Special Operations commander supervising the operation then ordered a second strike to kill those two people to adhere to Hegseth’s demands, the newspaper said, citing two sources familiar with the operation.
“The order was to kill everybody,” one of the sources told The Post.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said Hegseth told him “he did not say that and I believe him, 100%.”
Trump added that he “wouldn’t have wanted” a second strike but was reassured by Hegseth’s account.
