President Trump defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth during a press gaggle on Air Force One on Sunday night when asked about reports that Hegseth directed the military to launch secondary strikes on a Venezuelan drug boat trafficking drugs into the United States to kill surviving terrorists.
The strike in question is the first of dozens against drug boats in the Caribbean Sea, which have killed nearly 100 drug traffickers and reduced the number of drugs entering America tremendously, “compared to what it was just a few months ago,” said Trump.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump posted footage from the first strike on September 2, stating, “Please let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!”
WATCH:
In response to a gocha question about the alleged double strike on a Venezuelan drug boat, Trump said he doesn’t know whether or not that happened, but he has “great confidence” in War Secretary Hegseth.
He further told reporters that he has “very little” concern about how the drug boats have been stopped, adding that “each boat is responsible for killing 25,000 Americans.”
WATCH:
Trump: I don’t know that that happened, and Pete said he did not want that— he didn’t even know what people were talking about. So, we’ll look into it. But no, I wouldn’t have wanted that, not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal; it was fine, and if there were two people around, but Pete said that didn’t happen. I have great confidence in him.
Reporter: Are you saying there was no second strike?
Trump: I don’t know. I’m going to find out about it, but Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.
Reporter: Do you have any concerns about how those boat strikes have been carried out at all?
Trump: Very little because you can see the boats, you can see the drugs in the boats, and each boat is responsible for killing 25,000 Americans, and they do an amazing job. You just look at the numbers. The amount of drugs coming into our country by sea is infinitesimal compared to what it was just a few months ago.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Pete Hegseth came under fire over allegations from anonymous sources that he gave an order “to kill everybody” in the attacks on Venezuelan drug boats, specifically the September 2 strike against narcoterrorists trafficking narcotics into the United States, which killed eleven designated terrorists.
The anonymous sources claim that after an initial strike left two of the eleven narcoterrorists alive on the smoldering boat, Hegseth ordered an additional strike to kill the poor, helpless drug traffickers attempting to invade our borders with deadly poisons.
Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton (MA) described the operations as “blatantly illegal,” adding, “Mark my words: It may take some time, but Americans will be prosecuted for this, either as a war crime or outright murder.”
Hegseth responded to the firestorm of “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting” on Friday, maintaining that the actions are lawful and align with the stated intention of the strikes to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.”
“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” Hegseth added.
MORE:
JUST IN: “We Have Only Just Begun to Kill Narco-Terrorists” – War Sec. Pete Hegseth Responds to Reports of “Illegal” Orders to “Kill Everybody” on Narcotrafficking Boats as Democrats Call for Prosecution of “a War Crime or Outright Murder”
The post WATCH: “I Have Great Confidence in Him” – Trump Backs Hegseth Amid Allegations of “War Crimes” and Calls for Prosecution From Leftists, Says He Has “Very Little” Concern About Methods Used on Drug Boats appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.