00:00The first couple of strikes, as you would, as any leader would want, you want to own that
00:04responsibility. So I said, I'm going to be the one to make the call after getting all the information
00:08and make sure it's the right strike. That was September 2nd. There's a lot of intelligence
00:13that goes into that, building that case and understanding that a lot of people providing
00:17information. I watched that first strike lot. As you can imagine, at the Department of War,
00:22we got a lot of things to do. So I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever,
00:26where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs. So I moved on to my next
00:31meeting. A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the, which he had the
00:35complete authority to do. And by the way, Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately
00:41sink the boat and eliminate the threat. President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear
00:46that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with
00:53the laws of war. With respect to the strikes in question on September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth
00:58authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his
01:04authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to
01:10the United States of America was eliminated. The secretary has been very clear in every statement
01:15that we've released about these strikes that they are presidentially directed. And the chain of
01:19command functions as it should. And we make sure that commanders on the ground are taken, their
01:24positions are taken into account and they are able to tell us and make decisions if they, if they see
01:29things that need to be flagged. But at the end of the day, the secretary and the president are the ones
01:34directing these strikes. And any follow on strikes, like those which were directed by Admiral Bradley,
01:41the secretary 100%. Can you talk about the autonomy that's given to the commanders who are carrying out
01:48these operations, like Admiral Bradley, to make decisions? Like in this case, I'm assuming the first
01:54strike took out the boat and any actions that followed. Can you talk about the autonomy they're given?
01:59Absolutely. So the secretary has been very clear in every statement that we've released about these
02:04strikes that they are presidentially directed. And the chain of command functions as it should. And we
02:09make sure that commanders on the ground are taken, their positions are taken into account and they are able
02:14to tell us and make decisions if they, if they see things that need to be flagged. But at the end of
02:19the day, the secretary and the president are the ones directing these strikes. And any follow on strikes,
02:26like those which were directed by Admiral Bradley, the secretary 100%. The first couple of strikes,
02:32as you would, as any leader would want, you want to own that responsibility. So I said, I'm going to be the
02:36one to make the call after getting all the information and make sure it's the right strike. That was
02:41September 2nd. There's a lot of intelligence that goes into that, building that case and
02:46understanding that a lot of people providing information. I watched that first strike lot.
02:50As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do. So I didn't stick around
02:54for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs.
03:00So I moved on to my next meeting. A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the,
03:05which he had the complete authority to do. And by the way, Admiral Bradley made the correct decision
03:10to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat. He sunk the boat, sunk the boat,
03:16and eliminated the threat. And he was the right call. We have his back and the American people are
03:23safer because narco terrorists know you can't bring drugs through the water and eventually on land if
03:29necessary to the American people. We will eliminate that threat and we're proud to do it.
03:34So you didn't see any survivors to be clear after that first strike?
03:39I did not personally see survivors, but I stand because the thing was on fire. It was exploded in
03:45fire or smoke. You can't see anything. You got digital. This is called the fog of war. This is what you and
03:50the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices or up on Capitol Hill and you
03:55nitpick and you plant fake stories in the Washington Post about kill everybody. Phrases on anonymous
04:01sources not based in anything, not based in any truth at all. And then you want to throw out really
04:07irresponsible terms about American heroes, about the judgment that they made. I wrote a whole book
04:12on this topic. In his social media posts, Secretary Hegsatt didn't go into details about that strike. He
04:18just said U.S. operations in the area were lawful and he said that the story and media reports were
04:23fabricated. So to be clear, does the administration deny that that second strike happened or did it happen
04:30and the administration denies that Secretary Hegsatt did the war? The latter is true and I have a
04:36statement to read for you here. President Trump and Secretary Hegsatt have made it clear that
04:41presidentially designated narco terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with
04:47the laws of war. With respect to the strikes in question on September 2nd, Secretary Hegsatt authorized
04:53Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority
04:59and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United
05:05States of America was eliminated. And I would just add one more point to remind the American public
05:10why these lethal strikes are taking place. Because this administration has designated these narco
05:16terrorists as foreign terrorist organizations. The president has a right to take them out if they
05:21are threatening the United States of America and if they are bringing illegal narcotics that are killing
05:26our citizens at a record rate, which is what they are doing. And under the previous administration,
05:31there was enough fentanyl trafficked into our country to kill every American man, woman and child
05:37many times over. And so that's why you've seen a drastic difference in this administration's policy
05:42with respect to the last. And it's one of the many reasons that the American public reelected this
05:47president and support this Secretary of War in conducting these strikes.
05:50To clarify, Admiral Bradley was the one who gave that order for a second strike.
05:55And he was well within his authority to do so.
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