00:00Gabe.
00:00Caroline, regarding Venezuela, the President said yesterday that Secretary Hegseth had denied that that second strike,
00:11that reported second strike on an alleged drug vote on September 2nd, the Secretary said to the President that that didn't happen.
00:19But to clarify, I just wanted you to clear this up.
00:22In his social media post, Secretary Hegseth didn't go into details about that strike.
00:26He just said U.S. operations in the area were lawful, and he said that the story and media reports were fabricated.
00:32So to be clear, does the administration deny that that second strike happened,
00:36or did it happen and the administration denies that Secretary Hegseth gave the order?
00:41The latter is true, Gabe, and I have a statement to read for you here.
00:45President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups
00:52are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war.
00:56With respect to the strikes in question on September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.
01:05Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed
01:11and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.
01:15And I would just add one more point to remind the American public why these lethal strikes are taking place,
01:20because this administration has designated these narco-terrorists as foreign terrorist organizations.
01:26The president has a right to take them out if they are threatening the United States of America
01:30and if they are bringing illegal narcotics that are killing our citizens at a record rate, which is what they are doing.
01:37And under the previous administration, there was enough fentanyl trafficked into our country
01:41to kill every American man, woman, and child many times over.
01:46And so that's why you've seen a drastic difference in this administration's policy with respect to the last,
01:51and it's one of the many reasons the American public re-elected this president
01:55and support this secretary of war in conducting these strikes.
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