White House Defends Strikes on Venezuelan Narco-Terrorists

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the Department of War’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean.

Leavitt said at Monday’s press briefing that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth authorized Adm. Frank Bradley to carry out the second strike on Sept. 2, reportedly killing two people who survived the initial attack.

Leavitt addressed the strike after a Washington Post report reported Hegesth ordered the military to “kill everybody.” Hegseth denounced the story as “fake news.”

“President [Donald] Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war,” Leavitt said. “With respect to the strikes in question on Sept. 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.”

“Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated,” she continued.

The Biden administration allowed enough fentanyl to enter the country to “kill every American, man, woman and child, many times over,” Leavitt said.

“That’s why you’ve seen a drastic difference in this administration’s policy with respect to the last,” she said, “and it’s one of the many reasons the American public reelected this president and support this secretary of war in conducting these strikes.”

Hegseth held meetings with many members of Congress over the weekend who expressed concerns over the strikes, located mostly near Venezuela, Leavitt said. She said the administration has also held 13 bipartisan briefings to Congress on the strikes.

“There have been a number of document reviews from members of Congress to review the classified DOJ Office of Legal Counsel opinion and other related documents,” she said. “Twenty-nine senators and 92 representatives have reviewed those documents, which is about two thirds of those that are Democrat members, and they have been made available to all 100 senators, all 435 members of the House, and to general counsels of the relevant committees on a bipartisan basis for their review.”

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