Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is pressing War Secretary Pete Hegseth to provide testimony and documents to Congress amid mounting scrutiny over U.S. military strikes on vessels the Trump administration has described as narcotics-trafficking "drug boats."
The push follows revelations about a Sept. 2 operation near Venezuela in which a first strike disabled a boat and a second strike later hit the vessel again, killing two survivors shown clinging to the wreckage in video reviewed by lawmakers.
"I think he should testify under oath about the orders that were given," Paul told reporters after testimony from Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Adm. Frank "Mitch" Bradley, who oversaw the Sept. 2 strike.
"And I think that the video of the distressed, shipwrecked, or incapacitated people on those boats being bombed Secretary of — that video should be shown to every American."
Paul, a leading GOP critic of the administration's expanding use of military force against suspected cartel-linked targets, has accused the Pentagon of shifting explanations about what happened and who authorized the second strike.
Paul pointed to what he described as inconsistencies between Hegseth and the White House communications team earlier in the week.
"Secretary Hegseth said he had no knowledge of this, and it did not happen," Paul told reporters Tuesday.
"It was fake news. It didn't happen.
"And then the next day, from the podium of the White House, they're saying it did happen," he said.
"Either he was lying to us on Sunday or he's incompetent," Paul said, criticizing conflicting public statements after the White House confirmed a second strike occurred under Hegseth's authority.
The incident has triggered bipartisan demands for more transparency, including access to the full video and the legal justifications underpinning the strikes, as congressional investigators review whether rules of engagement or international law were violated.
During testimony on Capitol Hill earlier in the day, Bradley told lawmakers there was no "kill them all" order from Hegseth.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Bradley "was very clear that he was given no such order to give no quarter or to kill them all."
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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