New US drug-boat strike adds pressure over Sept. 2 ‘survivor’ attack

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00:00This morning, new pressure on the Pentagon and a new U.S. strike, raising even more questions.

00:08Admiral Mitch Bradley, the Navy officer who oversaw the operation, spent Thursday behind closed doors with key lawmakers.

00:15And just hours later, the U.S. military launched another strike.

00:19Southern Command confirms late Thursday that U.S. forces carried out a lethal strike on a suspected drug boat,

00:26this time in the eastern Pacific. You see it right there, killing four men on board.

00:31A 21-second video posted online shows the moment missiles hit the vessel.

00:36The military says the boat was operated by a designated terrorist organization

00:40and was carrying illegal narcotics along a known drug trafficking route.

00:45That strike landed the same day Bradley and Joint Chiefs Chair General Dan Cain

00:49showed members the unedited video of the controversial September 2nd attack,

00:54including the follow-up strike that killed two survivors.

00:57Lawmakers came away with vastly different interpretations and opinions.

01:01Republicans say footage of the incident shows a lawful operation.

01:05Democrats say it raises new, grave questions about whether the U.S. killed men who were no longer a threat.

01:12Bradley also told lawmakers there was no order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to kill them all,

01:18directly rejecting public reporting about the operation.

01:21Here is Republican Senator Tom Cotton.

01:24I want to thank Admiral Bradley and General Cain for coming to brief about the strikes on September 2nd,

01:31which were righteous strikes.

01:34These are narco-terrorists who are trafficking drugs that are destined for the United States

01:39to kill thousands of Arkansans and millions of Americans.

01:44But top Democrats who saw the same video describe it as deeply troubling

01:49and said it needs to be released to the public.

01:51But what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service.

01:58You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion,

02:05with a destroyed vessel, who are killed by the United States.

02:11The September 2nd strike was the first in what's now a months-long military campaign

02:16against what the White House calls narco-terrorists.

02:1922 strikes, more than 87 people killed, including four in Thursday's operation.

02:24And this morning, Congress is demanding answers.

02:26What were the rules of engagement?

02:28Who gave the orders?

02:29And were the survivors ever a legitimate target?

02:32Several Democrats are calling for Hegseth to testify,

02:35for the full video to be released,

02:37and for the Pentagon to provide the legal rationale behind the mission,

02:40requests the administration has so far denied.