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

00:13closed doors with key lawmakers. And 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

00:25suspected drug boat, this time in the eastern Pacific. You see it right there, killing four men

00:30on board. A 21-second video posted online shows the moment missiles hit the vessel. The military

00:36says the boat was operated by a designated terrorist organization and was carrying illegal narcotics

00:42along a known drug trafficking route. That strike landed the same day Bradley and Joint Chiefs Chair

00:48General Dan Cain showed members the unedited video of the controversial September 2nd attack,

00:54including the follow-up strike that killed two survivors. Lawmakers came away with vastly

00:59different interpretations and opinions. Republicans 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

01:11a threat. Bradley also told lawmakers there was no order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to kill

01:17them all, directly rejecting public reporting about the operation. Here's Republican Senator Tom Cotton.

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

01:312nd, which were righteous strikes. These are narco-terrorists who are trafficking drugs that are

01:37destined for the United States to kill thousands of Arkansans and millions of Americans.

01:44But top Democrats who saw the same video describe it as deeply troubling and said it needs to be released

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

01:56in public service. You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion

02:05with a destroyed vessel who are killed by the United States. The September 2nd strike was the first in

02:13what's now a months-long military campaign against what the White House calls narco-terrorists.

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

02:24Congress is demanding answers. What were the rules of engagement? Who gave the orders? And were the

02:30survivors ever a legitimate target? Several Democrats are calling for Hegseth to testify,

02:35for the full video to be released, and for the Pentagon to provide the legal rationale behind the mission,

02:40requests the administration has so far denied.