U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, R-Ariz., goes to a closed-door briefing with the Senate Armed Services Committee at the U.S. Capitol on December 2, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Senators attending a long-scheduled briefing on naval aviation mishaps were asked by reporters about the recent U.S. attack on a ship in the Caribbean. (Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday toughened their demands that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly release unedited video of a controversial follow-up strike by U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea that left two survivors dead.
The Sept. 2 strike drew attention and raised questions about Hegseth’s role in ordering his commander to fire additional munitions to kill two men clinging to the wreck of an alleged drug smuggling boat after the initial attack set the ship on fire.
“Why wouldn’t they release it? They were very excited, the Department of Defense and Pete Hegseth, very excited to release all these videos up to this part, and then they said, ‘Oh no, we can’t release it,'” Sen. Mark Kelly, R-Ariz., told States Newsroom.
President Donald Trump sent A 29-second edited video of the September 2 strike on his social media platform Truth Social, which shows no survivors.
Several military experts to argue another strike that began in early September was in violation of international and Pentagon law law of war states that survivors should be rescued, not killed.
The subsequent strike in question was the first of nearly two dozen U.S. attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea, all of which the administration says stemmed from drug smuggling. Operations – Latest killing four according to many media reports on December 4 – killed 87 people. Hegseth posted videos of some of them.
The film “Illegal Orders”.
On November 18, six Democratic lawmakers, including Kelly, posted their own video on social media reminding that active-duty soldiers have the right to refuse “illegal orders.” All six served in the military or worked for intelligence agencies.
Trump accused lawmakers of “subversive behavior” and Hegseth launched a Navy investigation and The FBI got involvedeven threatening Kelly, a member of the Armed Services Committee who rose to the rank of captain before leaving the military, with potential arrest later this week.
“Based on what has been said publicly, the secretary of the Navy is scheduled to submit the plan to the secretary of defense tomorrow,” Kelly said, adding that he had not been “officially notified” of anything.
“I mean, I’ve been retired from the Navy for 14 years. OK, maybe they don’t have my number anymore. Maybe that’s the problem. But really, the problem is that they’re a bunch of clowns who have no idea what they’re doing,” Kelly said.
Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told States Newsroom he “continues to listen to concerns” about the release of unedited footage of another strike.
“There are people who are still wondering about the ramifications in terms of whether this would put some of our troops in danger. There was classified information in the video and it’s still being considered,” the Mississippi Republican said.
The senators informed
Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were on Capitol Hill Tuesday to brief top senators on attacks on alleged drug-smuggling boats and the buildup of U.S. Navy ships off the coast of Venezuela.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer later said, “it was a very unsatisfactory briefing.”
“I asked Secretary Hegseth, the secretary of defense, if he would allow any member of Congress to view the unedited video of the September 2 strike. His response: ‘We need to study it.’ Well, in my opinion, they have studied it long enough. Congress should see this,” said Schumer, a New York Democrat.
Before the briefing, he told reporters he planned to “confront Secretary Hegseth about what exactly the hell is going on in the Caribbean.”
Schumer later said he was “very, very concerned” that the administration would launch a ground war in the South American country.
Asked whether he supported releasing the unedited video, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters he was “pleased” with the committee’s ongoing investigation.
“As I said, the relevant committees, the Armed Services Committee, both Democrats and Republicans, have had the opportunity to view this video. I leave it to their discretion to decide how to proceed. But I think any member who wants to see it would probably have the opportunity to do so,” the South Dakota Republican said.
Kelly told States Newsroom he “guess” all members of the Senate Armed Services Committee will be able to view the video next week.
Hegseth’s confined travels
Lawmakers included a provision in their annual defense policy bill to withhold a quarter of Hegseth’s travel budget until the Defense Department releases unedited video of the “double-tap” strike.
The House and Senate Armed Services committees launched bipartisan investigations shortly after the Washington Post. published reports of the attack.
Top members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees watched full footage of another strike. The subsequent reaction was divided along party lines.
Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, supports the release of the video, which he told reporters revealed “nothing out of the ordinary.”
The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Adam Smith of Washington state, said Sunday that the video contradicts what the GOP says about it.
“When they (the survivors) were finally lifted out, they made no attempt to capsize the boat. The boat was clearly disabled. A small part of it remained, the capsized bow of the boat. They had no communication facility. They were certainly unarmed” – Smith he said on ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “Any claim that the drugs somehow survived this attack is very difficult to reconcile with what we saw.”
Trump withdraws comments
Trump he said Politico, in a one-on-one interview published Tuesday, said that “it looked like they were trying to turn the boat around, but I’m not involved in that.”
On Monday, Trump returned to previous comments in which he said he would have “no problem” with releasing the unedited video.
The Washington Post reported on November 28 that Hegseth had issued a verbal directive to “kill everybody”, which in turn prompted the admiral commanding officer to order the strike to continue.
Hegseth initially dismissed the report as “fabricated.”
On December 1, the White House confirmed that Hegseth had authorized Admiral Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley to conduct the strikes.
A December 1 New York Times article quoted five U.S. officials who spoke separately on condition of anonymity: reported that Hegseth had given preliminary written orders for an operation to kill the alleged drug smugglers on the boat and destroy the entire ship.
According to the report, Hegseth did not take additional steps if the first missile failed to hit both targets, nor did he issue additional orders to Bradley in response to surveillance video of the boat.
Hegseth said during a live-streamed cabinet meeting on December 2 that he did not in the room when the next attack began.
