GOP House Committee Chair Signals Post Mortem ‘Done’ on ‘Follow-Up Strike’ on Venezuela Drug Boat – RedState

Anyone who has followed Trump 47’s military efforts to combat illegal drug activity emanating from the so-called Venezuelan “fishing boats” that Democrats assure everyone contains innocent men just trying to keep a shirt on their back and food on their family’s dinner table. The United States destroyed a cruise ship in early September, as my colleague Streiff wrote.

This of course goes hand in hand with Democrats like Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), he of the self-righteous “Seditious Six” video, as we saw, which was designed to degrade the authority of President Trump and Secretary of War Hegseth, and everyone in the chain of command of our active military.

LEARN MORE: Shots fired! US military sinks Venezuelan drug trafficker (Updated)

It all begins: DOW confirms that US Navy report outlining possible sanctions against Senator Kelly is under ‘review’

The silver lining here, readers, is that Republicans are not sitting idly by, even as we move closer to the Congressional Christmas break.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL-3) signaled during his speech on the House floor Wednesday that Republicans are not about to lie to themselves and let radical Democrats like Sen. Kelly step over them.

The committee released an excerpt from Rep. Roger’s statement on X:

🚨From the president @RepMikeRogersAL on boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea:

These strikes are legal under U.S. and international law and all actions comply with the law of armed conflict.
But above all, these strikes have considerably reduced drug trafficking… pic.twitter.com/QGTZIRwEim

– Armed Services GOP (@HASCRepublicans) December 17, 2025

He said, in part:

These strikes are legal under U.S. and international law and all actions comply with the law of armed conflict.

But more importantly, these strikes have significantly reduced drug trafficking operations.

Americans are safer today because of the actions of the President of the United States.

Now it’s official. Via a new post on X from the Department of War (DOW), we learn Thursday that the GOP committee chairman has closed the book on this issue, so to speak, after a classified briefing for House Republicans:

It’s done. pic.twitter.com/U0oWNALjuy

– DOW Quick Response (@DOWResponse) December 18, 2025

I encourage you to watch this less than two minute clip above. In other words, the House Armed Services people are not going to take the investigation any further. As DOW writes, “It’s done.” Although it is unclear where the article presented in the message came from, Speaker Rogers said something similar on December 9, with House and Senate Democrats standing with him (and Leader Joihn Thune) to conduct “a full investigation, including public hearings”:

The Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said he saw no need to further investigate a controversial military strike that killed survivors of an attack on a suspected drug ship in September.

…

“It’s done,” Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) told reporters Tuesday when asked about his next steps to investigate the incident. “I have all the answers I needed.”

That’s not going to happen, lefties. It looks like all of this could soon become a controversial topic, with bad news appearing to fall in droves about Venezuela’s illegitimate regime and the actions the president has ordered in recent days against Maduro’s government.

SEE: Upping the ante: Trump orders ‘total and complete blockade’ of sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers

Maduro regime now on brink of collapse, says Venezuelan opposition leader

It is of course doubtful that conservatives/Republicans have heard the end of this political attack line from the left, so we will keep you posted as things develop.

[Editor’s Note: This article was edited for clarity after publication.]

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