The first sign that the week-old media frenzy over the sinking of a drug-running speedboat by the U.S. military in international waters on September 2 showed the first signs of winding down today. The issue was driven by a Washington Post account that was a paint-by-numbers narrative and a Rorschach test for your feelings on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, as it was investigative reporting; see Washington Post Accuses Pete Hegseth of ‘Illegal Order’ to Kill Drug Runners, but Is It Real? – RedState. The article claimed that Hegseth instructed military commanders to kill “[t]wo survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck.” This has created a media firestorm and spawned a swarm of Google Law School graduates arguing that this was a “war crime.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the issue head-on in today’s White House press briefing.
When asked about a report that Secretary Hegseth ordered the military to kill all passengers aboard a boat suspected of ferrying drugs in September, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Adm. Mitch Bradley made the order for the second strike. https://t.co/OCgRFWVPPM pic.twitter.com/kWNoEeLY4I
— ABC News (@ABC) December 1, 2025
Reporter: Does the administration deny that that second strike happened or did it happen and the administration denies that Hegseth gave the order?
Leavitt: The latter is true and I have a statement to read for you here:
President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war. With respect to the strikes in question on Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.
Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.
We’re slowly but surely developing enough information to understand what happened. The Washington Post makes it seem as though the initial missile strike destroyed the boat and, to everyone’s shock and dismay, a couple of drug runners were seen clinging to a bit of wreckage. At that point, Pete Hegseth ordered a second missile to be launched, which bounced off their heads.
When Leavitt’s statement is taken in context with the video of the September 2 strike, a different narrative becomes more logical.
The first missile strike on the drug-running boat didn’t sink it.
A second strike was ordered to finish the job. The commander on the scene made the call, but he made it within the directions he’d received from the Secretary of War.
Leavitt’s answer should put this story to rest in mainstream circles.
As I pointed out in my post on the subject, this is not now, nor has it ever been, about “war crimes.” It has two purposes. The first is to attack Pete Hegseth, who is definitely making changes in the Pentagon that the left sees as a direct threat to their “long march through the instittutions.” The second part is a direct attack on the authority of President Trump to issue orders to the U.S. military. The same claims of illegality that have been aimed at this incident have also been directed at, for example, National Guard deployments.
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