By Peter AitkenShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberPresident Donald Trump on Sunday evening addressed the controversy surrounding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his alleged order for a second strike on a Venezuelan boat to ensure all passengers were dead.
“He said he didn’t do it, so I don’t have to make that decision,” Trump said, adding when pressed yet again about the legality of the strikes: "I wouldn't have wanted that - a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine."
Why It Matters
Hegseth has defended the strikes on boats in the Caribbean as “lawful” after The Washington Post reported that he ordered military officials to leave “no survivors” during a September strike on an alleged drug boat.
Hegseth responded to the report and critics of the strikes with a post on X, in which he wrote that current operations 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.”
Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Sean Parnell also took to X to defend the strikes, saying that he told The Washington Post that "this entire narrative was false yesterday. These people just fabricate anonymously sourced stories out of whole cloth. Fake News is the enemy of the people."
...What To Know
Trump spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned to D.C. from Florida, where he spent the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and held talks with Ukrainian officials as the U.S. continues to try and broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
But reporters focused on other matters that hit closer to home, including the controversy around the report that Hegseth ordered "no survivors" of the strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.
Trump told reporters he didn’t “know anything about it,” but that Hegseth assured him that “he did not say that.”
“Pete said he did not order the death of those men,” Trump said when asked again about a second strike on the boat, and avoided answering whether he would have been okay with a second strike if Hegseth had ordered one.
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Trump also said that he would "look into it," but he backed the strikes, saying he had "great confidence" in Hegseth and that drug deliveries by sea have become "infinitesimal" compared to what they had been. He also said that the drugs were visible in the boats before the strikes, justifying the destruction of the boats.
He also downplayed concerns about his message that the airspace "above and surrounding" Venezuela should be considered "closed in its entirety," raising concerns of escalated U.S. military action on the South American nation.
"We consider Venezuela to be not a very friendly country," Trump said, citing the mass migration from Venezuela to the U.S. and accusing many of them of being criminals and gang members who have proliferated in the U.S.
When asked if an airstrike was imminent on the country itself, Trump dismissed the concern, saying, "Don't read anything into it."
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump in a message posted across social media last week: "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP"
Senator Adam Schiff of California, a Democrat, wrote on X: "The time to stop the Trump administration from dragging us into war with Venezuela is not after the bombs start falling. It’s right now. If Congress doesn't do its job, we accept the role Trump is relegating us to: Constitutional afterthought."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a post on X last week, in part: "As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland. As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes.” The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats, and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization."
Update 11/30/25, 6:44 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
Update 11/30/25, 6:33 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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