Hegseth says that he watched first strike but ‘didn’t stick around’ for the hours following, as he defends admiral’s decision to re-strike alleged drug trafficking boat
In today’s cabinet meeting, Pete Hegseth gave more details about the decision to re-strike an alleged drug trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela on 2 September.
He said that he “watched that first strike” but ultimately did not “stick around for the hour or two hours” after.
“So I moved on to my next meeting,” the defense secretary said. “A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the which he had the complete authority to do.”
Hegseth went on to back Adm Frank Bradley’s call as he described the unfolding events to reporters. “[Bradley] sunk the boat, sunk the boat and eliminated the threat. And it was the right call. We have his back, and the American people are safer, because Narco terrorists know you can’t bring drugs through the water and eventually on land,” Hegseth added.
His retelling today appears at odds with the version of events that he described to his former colleagues at Fox News, a day after the much-scrutinized second strike on 2 September. As my colleague, Robert Mackey, reported, on 3 September the defense secretary said that he watched the operation in real time.
“I can tell you that was definitely not artificial intelligence: I watched it live,” Hegseth said in an interview.
Key events
A reminder that this is the video of the first strike on 2 September that defense secretary Pete Hegseth posted to social media.
However, this footage doesn’t show the second strike (which reportedly killed two survivors) or has been cut to only show the first.
‘We know the routes they take’: Trump threatens land strikes to combat drug cartels
During his cabinet meeting today, Donald Trump said that countries manufacturing and selling drugs to the US is “subject to attack”, adding that strikes wouldn’t be limited to Venezuela.
Trump also said that the administration is “going to start doing those strikes on land,” after defending his crackdown on alleged narcotics smugglers, which has largely been contained to the sea.
“You know, the land is much easier, much easier. And we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live, and we’re going to start that very soon too,” the president said. “When we start that, we’re going to drive those numbers down so low.”
Hegseth says that he watched first strike but ‘didn’t stick around’ for the hours following, as he defends admiral’s decision to re-strike alleged drug trafficking boat
In today’s cabinet meeting, Pete Hegseth gave more details about the decision to re-strike an alleged drug trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela on 2 September.
He said that he “watched that first strike” but ultimately did not “stick around for the hour or two hours” after.
“So I moved on to my next meeting,” the defense secretary said. “A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the which he had the complete authority to do.”
Hegseth went on to back Adm Frank Bradley’s call as he described the unfolding events to reporters. “[Bradley] sunk the boat, sunk the boat and eliminated the threat. And it was the right call. We have his back, and the American people are safer, because Narco terrorists know you can’t bring drugs through the water and eventually on land,” Hegseth added.
His retelling today appears at odds with the version of events that he described to his former colleagues at Fox News, a day after the much-scrutinized second strike on 2 September. As my colleague, Robert Mackey, reported, on 3 September the defense secretary said that he watched the operation in real time.
“I can tell you that was definitely not artificial intelligence: I watched it live,” Hegseth said in an interview.
Trump says Hegseth ‘didn’t know’ about ‘second attack having to do with two people’
Taking questions from reporters at his cabinet meeting today, Donald Trump defended his Pentagon chief about reports that Pete Hegseth ordered an US Navy admiral to re-strike an alleged drug boat with two survivors.
“Pete didn’t know about second attack having to do with two people,” Trump said. “I can say this. I want those boats taken out.”
Rubio heaps praise on Trump’s foreign policy moves, says he is ‘only leader’ who can help end war in Ukraine
Rounding out comments today, secretary of state Marco Rubio said that Donald Trump is the “only leader in the world” that can help end the war in Ukraine as he praised the president’s foreign policy efforts.
“Even as we speak to you now, Steve Witkoff is in Moscow trying to find a way to end this war,” Rubio added, referring to the ongoing summit between Putin and the US delegation that’s been going on for more than two hours.
“More people are dying a week in that war than have died in the entirety of the US is involvement in Afghanistan or Iraq,” Rubio said.
My colleague, Joseph Gedeon, reports that a DC national guard spokesperson confirmed that members supporting Donald Trump’s operation in the nation’s capital “have been armed with their assigned duty weapons since August 2025, in support of civil authorities and at the request of the lead federal agency”.
The spokesperson added that “every service member is trained and qualified on their assigned weapon in accordance with Department of War standards”.
This is Trump’s ninth cabinet meeting since he returned to office earlier this year. It’s been going on for over an hour and a half. In many ways, it’s similar to roundtables past. Most cabinet secretaries and agency heads have heaped praise on the administration’s policies and thanked their colleagues.
Agriculture secretary says administration will stop federal funding to states who refuse to share food stamp data
Brooke Rollins, the president’s agriculture secretary, said that her agency will “begin to stop moving federal funds” to the 21 states who have refused to share data about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) recipients.
She added that the USDA will withhold funds until these states “comply” and tell the USDA and allow the department “to root out this fraud and to protect the American taxpayer”.
Despite undocumented immigrants remaining ineligible to receive Snap benefits, Rollins said earlier this week that USDA is reviewing “all programs” to ensure “only legal citizens are receiving benefits”.
Duffy reiterates calls for passengers to ‘bring their better selves’ to air travel
Transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, reiterated his call for passengers to “bring their better selves” when flying in an effort to “bring civility back to travel”.
“If you have a someone’s pregnant on your flight and you’re as strong as Pete is,” Duffy said, looking and joking with the defense secretary during Trump’s cabinet meeting. “Well pick up the bag and help her, put it in the overhead bin. Let’s be nice to each other.”
The secretary reiterated his calls for passengers to “maybe not wear pajamas or slippers on the airplane”.
Hegseth insists ‘we always have the backs of our commanders’ amid furor over who ordered second boat strike
“We always have the backs of our commanders,” Hegseth said, insisting that “they’ve done the right things” in making judgement calls in difficult situations.
He’s alluding to Admiral Frank M Bradley, the military commander whom Hegseth has been insisting since yesterday gave the order for the second strike on the alleged drug boat on 2 September. The White House has also been backing this narrative, leading some some officials in Congress and the Pentagon, as well as Democrats, to now fear that Bradley is being made a scapegoat for the potentially illegal order.
In his first public outing since the Washington Post reported that he ordered a second strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat that killed two shipwrecked survivors, Pete Hegseth doubled down on strikes on boats in the Caribbean:
We’ve only just begun striking narco-boats and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean, because they’ve been poisoning the American people.
Trump says national guard will be deployed to New Orleans ‘in a couple of weeks’
“We’re going to New Orleans soon” with the national guard, Trump said, adding that the Republican governor (and staunch ally of the president) of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, had called him and asked for help.
“We’re going there in a couple of weeks,” Trump said.
Trump told the cabinet meeting that he would be announcing his selection for the next chair of the Federal Reserve early next year.
He added that he talked to treasury secretary Scott Bessent about taking over the Fed but Bessent didn’t want the job.
Donald Trump’s cabinet meeting started a short while ago a little behind schedule. I’ll bring you all the key lines here.
Schumer calls on Hegseth to release full unedited tape of boat strikes
Also earlier, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called Hegseth “spineless” and “a national embarrassment” and called for the defense secretary to release the full unedited tape of the deadly strikes on the alleged drug boat off the coast of Venezuela on 2 September.
Schumer pointed to a recent appearance on Fox News where Hegseth “bragged that he was present at every moment of the operation” but is now claiming Admiral Bradley made the decision about the second strike.
“The minute trouble arises, Hegseth says someone else was making the decision,” Schumer said.
As well as releasing the tape, Schumer said the defense secretary must testify publicly on the matter, as well as briefing the Senate in a classified setting.
Democrats says Hegseth lied about second boat strike and ‘threw Admiral Bradley under the bus’
Meanwhile, at the Democrats press conference earlier, representative Ted Lieu of California called on Pete Hegseth to resign, saying the defense secretary lied about the second strike on the suspected drug-smuggling boat and “and threw Admiral Bradley under the bus”.
“Killing shipwreck survivors is a war crime,” said Lieu, a former lawyer with the US Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps. He said there was no statute of limitation on war crimes and the justice department should conduct an investigation and hold everyone accountable.
Hegseth “engaged in dishonorable conduct”, Lieu said, adding: “He is a coward, he must resign, you deserve better.”
Fellow California representative Pete Aguilar reiterated that they feel Hegseth should resign but added that Republicans would never go with impeachment.
“Members of the military need to tell the truth,” he said. “We need a full accounting of what happened on that day with that strike”.
Wilson said today that Pentagon can “100% confirm that we know, without a shadow of a doubt, who these Narco terrorists are”.
While Wilson said the department knows what these suspected carters are “carrying, where they’re coming from and where they’re going,” she declined to provide details about the Pentagon’s intelligence efforts. “I don’t want to communicate to the enemy, the ways in which we’re carrying out these strikes,” she added.
