Trump backs Hegseth as defense secretary denies ordering second strike on boat – US politics live | US news
Trump ‘wouldn’t have wanted’ second strike on Caribbean boat
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One yesterday, the president defended Hegseth, saying he believed his statement “100%” that he hadn’t ordered the second strike.
“I’m going to find out about it, but Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.”
When asked if he would have wanted a second attempt to kill the survivors, the president said:
We’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that – not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal.”
The Washington Post reported that Hegseth “gave a spoken directive” to “kill everybody” on board in September. When there were still two men left after the first strike, a Special Operations commander ordered the follow-up to comply with Hegseth’s direction, the newspaper reported.
Hegseth has strongly denied the report, calling it “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory”.
He also said the US’s strikes on boats so far in the Caribbean had been “lawful under both US and international law”.
Key events
As Pete Hegseth continues to face scrutiny following a Washington Post report that he “gave a spoken directive” on 2 September to “kill everybody” on board in a second strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel, the defense secretary appeared glib on social media.
He posted a picture on Sunday evening, which shows a parody cover of a Franklin the Turtle book, where the beloved character is shooting small boats below him filled with men transporting drugs. “For your Christmas wish list,” Hegseth captioned the illustration.
The defense secretary continues to deny the Post’s claims. “As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland,” he wrote in a statement on Friday.
Trump backs GOP candidate in Tennessee special election as race tightens
Over the weekend, the president threw his weight behind Matt Van Epps, the Republican candidate in the special election in Tennessee’s seventh congressional district. Van Epps is running against Aftyn Behn – a Democratic state representative – to replace former GOP congressman Mark Green. A reminder, that Trump carried the district by 22 points in 2024, but after the success of November’s elections for Democrats across the country, the party is hoping to flip the Maga stronghold.
“HE WILL BE A GREAT CONGRESSMAN,” Trump said of Van Epps on Truth Social, adding that while he “cherishes Christianity and Country Music”, his opponent “hates them both”. This comes after Republicans have criticized Behn for resurfaced comments on a 2020 podcast. “I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music,” she said of Nashville, which is part of the district she’s running to represent.
My colleague, Chris Stein, reports that a survey from Emerson College Polling and the Hill found Van Epps up by just two percentage points over Behn, leading with 48% support to her 46%. He adds that the district is mostly made up of the sort of rural territory in which Democrats have struggled to compete, but also includes part of blue-leaning Nashville, as well as the city of Clarksville, a swing area whose residents may well decide the race.
Read Chris’ full report below.
Trump continues to lambast Democratic lawmakers over troops video
The president has picked up where he left off before Thanksgiving, when it comes to his anger at the six Democratic lawmakers who took part in a video urging service members to “refuse illegal orders”.
A reminder, that Trump initially went on a Truth Social tirade, accusing the members of Congress (all of whom are veterans or former intelligence officials) of sedition, adding that their actions are “punishable by death”.
In the early hours of Monday morning (12:45am ET to be precise) Trump recounted the US Code, including a section which calls for the fine or imprisonment, for up to 10 years, for those who “interfere, impair, influence the loyalty, moral or discipline of the military and naval forces”.
“DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE!!!,” Trump concluded on social media today.
Trump’s envoys Witkoff and Kushner to meet with Putin in Moscow
Donald Trump’s top envoy, Steve Witkoff, is set to meet with Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Tuesday. He’ll be joined by the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has been integral in the ongoing negotiations with Russia. This comes after a Bloomberg report from last week included a leaked transcript between Witkoff and a senior Moscow official, about how Russia could curry favor with Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, in Paris, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and France’s president Emanuel Macron met today.
“Peace must become truly durable. The war must end as soon as possible. Much now depends on the involvement of every leader,” Zelenksyy wrote on social media following their closed-door discussion. “We will also be speaking with other leaders today,” he added.
My colleague, Jakub Krupa, is covering the latest developments at our dedicated live blog below.
Trump invites families of national guard members shot in DC to the White House
After two members of the West Virginia national guard were shot in DC last week, the president has invited their families to the White House.
One soldier, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, was killed in the attack –which took place the day before Thanksgiving. Her fellow service member, US air force staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe, 24, remains hospitalized in critical condition. Vigils across West Virginia have taken place in their memory.
“I said: ‘When you’re ready, because that’s a tough thing, come to the White House. We’re going to honor Sarah,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday. “And likewise with Andrew, recover or not.”
My colleague, Marina Dunbar, reports that mourners came together over the weekend at Webster County high school in West Virginia to honor Beckstrom. Both she and Wolfe had been serving with the West Virginia national guard as part of Trump’s federal initiative to support policing efforts in DC.
Donald Trump is back in Washington today. As of now, he doesn’t have any public events scheduled. At 4pm ET he’ll sign congressional bills, but that’s currently closed to the press.
We will, however, hear from White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, at 1pm ET. She’s due to hold a briefing with reporters, and we’ll be bringing you the latest as it happens.
Venezuela called the strikes ‘murder’
Venezuela’s National Assembly has accused the US of committing “murder” with the strikes. It is one of the first acknowledgements by Venezuelan officials that their citizens have been targeted.
“There’s no declared war [between the US and Venezuela)] therefore this cannot be classified as anything but murder,” Jorge Rodriguez, the National Assembly president, told a press conference on Sunday.
“Every human being has the right to due process; no human being can be killed in a brutal manner.”
Democrats respond to reported Venezuela strike
Senator Mark Kelly: “We’re going to have a public hearing. We’re going to put these folks under oath. And we’re going to find out what happened. And then, there needs to be accountability.”
He also told CNN: “If what has been reported is accurate, I have got serious concerns about anybody in that chain of command stepping over a line that they should never step over.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen: “I think it’s very possible there was a war crime committed.”
Frances Mao
And a quick reminder of the background to US strikes in these waters:
Since September, the US has expanded its naval presence in the region, carrying out strikes on what it says are drug-smuggling boats in waters off Venezuela and Colombia.
More than 80 people have been killed according to the US Defence Department.
The US has said it is destroying boats bringing in harmful drugs, and thus its attacks are launched out of self-defence – a legal justification for military attacks under international laws of armed conflict.
But it has provided scant evidence of the alleged criminality of the boats, and has also declined to provide identification details of the people it has killed on board the boats.
Venezuela’s National Assembly has accused the US of committing “murder” with the strikes.
The UN’s human rights chief Volker Turk has said there’s “strong evidence” such strikes constitute extrajudicial killings. He’s been calling for Congress investigate.
The reports then from the weekend add another layer of suspected illegality. The Washington Post reports that the US navy on 2 September struck a drug-running vessel, killing some of the 11 on board in the first strike. After commanders saw on the live drone feed that there were still two survivors clinging to the wreck, they executed an order to strike again, to kill all those on board.
Follow-up strikes are forbidden under the rules of war and engagement, i.e. what is legal fighting between parties in a conflict.
Clauses in the the Geneva Conventions also forbid the targeting of wounded participants, saying that those participants should instead be shielded, rescued and if applicable, treated as prisoners of war with relevant rights.
Republican-led committees launching investigations
There’s been a swift response from lawmakers following the reports. Republican-led committees overseeing the Pentagon have vowed to conduct “vigorous oversight” into the boat strikes.
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Senate Armed Services Committee:“Has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances”.
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House Armed Services Committee: “Is taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question”.
And lawmakers on both sides, speaking on talk shows on Sunday, called for congressional review.
“This rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true,” said Democrat Senator Tim Kaine on CBS’s Face the Nation programme.
Republican lawmaker Mike Turner said Congress did not know yet if the report of the follow-up strike was true.
“Obviously if that occurred, that would be very serious, and I agree that that would be an illegal act,” said Turner, a former chairman of the Intelligence Committee.
Trump ‘wouldn’t have wanted’ second strike on Caribbean boat
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One yesterday, the president defended Hegseth, saying he believed his statement “100%” that he hadn’t ordered the second strike.
“I’m going to find out about it, but Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.”
When asked if he would have wanted a second attempt to kill the survivors, the president said:
We’ll look into it, but no, I wouldn’t have wanted that – not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal.”
The Washington Post reported that Hegseth “gave a spoken directive” to “kill everybody” on board in September. When there were still two men left after the first strike, a Special Operations commander ordered the follow-up to comply with Hegseth’s direction, the newspaper reported.
Hegseth has strongly denied the report, calling it “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory”.
He also said the US’s strikes on boats so far in the Caribbean had been “lawful under both US and international law”.
Trump backs Hegseth amid report of repeated strike on boat
Good morning and welcome to our US politics live blog.
We’re straight back in the thick of it after Thanksgiving: lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are demanding answers from the Trump administration after reports defense secretary Peter Hegseth ordered a double-tap strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing two people on board who had survived the first blast.
The allegations, first reported in the Washington Post on Friday, have sparked calls from Congress for an immediate investigation.
Hegseth, who calls himself the secretary for war on X, has called it “fake news” and Donald Trump says he believes him.
But Congress is alarmed. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers raised concerns at the weekend that if the reports were true, such attacks would be war crimes.
