Hegseth clips congressional wings in probe of ‘double-tap’ Venezuela boat strike

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Pentagon will not release unedited video of the reported “double-tap” strike against a boat the military believed to be smuggling drugs and will limit congressional access to the clip, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers during a closed-door briefing Tuesday morning.

Democrats and even some Republicans have said in recent weeks that the Defense Department should allow them to view unaltered footage of the strike, which targeted the survivors of an initial attack. Some have claimed that the move violated the laws of war governing shipwrecked combatants.

But, as lawmakers emerged from their private meeting with Hegseth on Tuesday, they told reporters the top Pentagon official had refused to show them the video.

“The administration came to this briefing emptyhanded,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “That’s the major question that we face — and if they can’t be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?”

Schumer added Hegseth had told lawmakers that providing them unedited video of the Sept. 2 strike would threaten the Pentagon’s sources and methods and that it “might give things away that shouldn’t be.” But the Democratic leader argued that senators would review any footage in the privacy of a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF.

“When you do it in a SCIF, that argument is undercut,” said Schumer. “It’s just with senators in the SCIF.”

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal said the Pentagon had provided “no specific justification” for withholding access to the strike video. “The failure to provide them undermines the trust and credibility of this entire operation.”

The Democratic lawmaker pointed out that the Pentagon had published clips from other strikes on would-be drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean — the U.S. military has carried out more than 20 such attacks. Blumenthal said that the Defense Department had provided “no answer” as to why footage of the reported double-tap strike had not been released.

Blumenthal added he believed a subpoena would be necessary for the video of the strike as well as any other related documents or supporting evidence.

But Hegseth told reporters the Defense Department would on Wednesday allow members of the House and Senate armed services committees to view unedited video of the strike.

“In keeping with longstanding Department of War — Department of Defense — policy, of course we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” he said, adding that only the “appropriate committees” would be allowed to see it.

A frustrated Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin defended Hegseth’s move to restrict access to the double-tap strike video, pointing out that it was a “classification issue” and pushing back on questions about a broader release.

“There’s a lot of members that are going to walk out of there that are going to leak,” said Mullin. “Do you think [Rep. Ilhan] Omar needs all this information? I will say no.”

Montana Senator Tim Sheehy claimed the strikes on supposed Venezuelan drug boats were a “precise paradigm” for “finding, finishing and fixing bad guys.” And he echoed arguments made by other Republicans that past presidents, such as President Barack Obama, had carried out similar strikes in the Middle East. “To go after the brave men and women in uniform who are conducting these attacks is to indict the very system that was used bipartisanly for the last 24 years,” said Sheehy.

Lawmakers, particularly Democrats, have said the U.S. military violated the laws of war by targeting survivors of the Sept. 2 strike. President Donald Trump has previously said that he would not object to video of the attack being made public.

The White House’s broader campaign against supposed drug trafficking boats, which it has long contended are smuggling drugs such as fentanyl into the U.S., has also garnered significant criticism from Democrats who say Trump has unilaterally seized warmaking power and cut out Congress.

California Senator Adam Schiff and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine have repeatedly tried to rein in the Pentagon with war powers resolutions aimed at halting the boat strikes — and preventing potential military action inside Venezuela. The Senate, however, has voted down their legislation on two occasions.

Trump on Monday signed an executive order designating fentanyl a chemical weapon and a “weapon of mass destruction, directing the Defense Department to identify “fentanyl smuggling networks” and authorizing the Justice Department to seek “enhanced national security resources” from the Pentagon to combat fentanyl.

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