Skip to playerSkip to main content
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sharply criticized the Biden administration following a classified Senate briefing, saying officials failed to provide transparency on the September 2 U.S. military strikes in the Caribbean. Schumer revealed he directly demanded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth allow all 100 Senators to view the unedited video of the operation targeting a suspected drug trafficking boat.

According to Schumer, that request was flatly refused. The Pentagon has confirmed there are no plans to release the full, unedited footage, intensifying concerns among lawmakers about accountability, oversight, and broader implications tied to U.S. policy toward Venezuela. The dispute is fueling growing bipartisan frustration over secrecy surrounding the operation and the administration’s handling of congressional briefings.

#ChuckSchumer #PentagonBriefing #September2Strikes #UneditedVideo #DefenseSecretary #PeteHegseth #SenateBriefing #USMilitary #CaribbeanStrike #DrugTraffickingBoat #VenezuelaConcerns #CongressOversight #AdministrationCriticism #BreakingPolitics #USDefense

~HT.318~ED.103~

Category

🗞
News
Transcript
00:00I reiterated my demand of Secretary Hegseth in front of all hundred senators.
00:06The unedited video of what happened on September 2nd.
00:10How can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?
00:16In my Gang of Eight meeting last week, I asked Secretary Hegseth,
00:20let every senator see it. He said he'd think about it.
00:23Today, he came up with no answer and no tape.
00:27We do not, their policies in the Caribbean are unclear.
00:34We don't know what the limits are. We don't know where they'll stop.
00:37We don't know what the ultimate goal is.
00:39The president says different things at different times and contradicts himself.
00:44We don't want another endless war.
00:46We don't want to stumble into something and given Trump's erratic back and forth on this issue.
00:53I reiterated my demand of Secretary Hegseth in front of all hundred senators
00:59that he allow every senator to see the unedited version,
01:07the unedited video of what happened on September 2nd.
01:11He refused.
01:13The administration came to this briefing empty-handed.
01:16That's the major question that we face.
01:19And if they can't be transparent on this,
01:22how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?
01:29Every senator is entitled to see it.
01:32There is no problem with sources and methods
01:36because the senators will see it in the skiff.
01:40I also believe that every American should see an appropriate version of this,
01:46of the unedited, well, they should see an appropriate version
01:50of what happened on September 2nd.
01:53I saw it.
01:55It was deeply troubling.
01:57In my Gang of Eight meeting last week,
01:59I asked Secretary Hegseth,
02:01let every senator see it.
02:03He said he'd think about it.
02:04Today, he came up with no answer and no tape.
02:08His reasoning was that it might give things away that shouldn't be.
02:14I respect classification.
02:16When you do it in the skiff, that argument is undercut.
02:19It's just with senators in the skiff.
02:22Can you help us understand if they gave any rationale
02:25of what the end goal of these strikes actually is?
02:27Look, that's the sad,
02:29and I sat through this briefing once before last week.
02:32We do not...
02:35Their policies in the Caribbean are unclear.
02:40We don't know what the limits are.
02:41We don't know where they'll stop.
02:43We don't know what the ultimate goal is.
02:45The president says different things at different times
02:48and contradicts himself.
02:50That's why we need full transparency,
02:52at least to the hundred senators,
02:54and much more transparency to the American people.
02:56We don't want another endless war.
02:59We don't want to stumble into something
03:00and give Trump's erratic back and forth on this issue.
03:06I worry about that.
03:08So do many Americans.
Comments

Recommended