Bipartisan lawmakers question Trump administration on strikes against alleged drug boats

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is demanding more answers from President Trump’s administration about the ongoing U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, including asking for more briefings and explanations for the legal rationale the White House is relying on. 

The four lawmakers, Reps. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Jason Crow (D-Colo.) and Mike Turner (R-Ohio), all members of the House Armed Services Committee, are asking the administration to clarify the legal basis for the ongoing strikes. They also want to know if the White House plans to ask Congress for authorization, if the people targeted in the attacks — which started in early September — posed a threat to the U.S., and what process officials are relying on to verify the targets. 

“We strongly support the effort to reduce the flow of narcotics into this country. This effort, like every action the United States military takes, must be done within the legal, moral and ethical framework that sets us apart from our adversaries,” the lawmakers wrote in a 2-page letter to the administration dated Tuesday. 

The House members are also asking the administration for another classified briefing to the House Armed Services Committee. 

“Cartels often force low-income individuals into maritime smuggling through threats or deception. What evidence confirms that those killed were cartel operatives, rather than coerced, deceived, or trafficked civilians,” the lawmakers asked in the letter. 

“What review mechanisms exist to investigate and assess strikes,” they said. “Will Congress receive post-strike identity verification and target assessment reports for every engagement?” 

The strikes have continued this week with the U.S. striking an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Eastern Pacific on Tuesday, killing two “narco-terrorists,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced. 

The U.S. military has conducted at least 16 strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels on both sides of South America and has killed at least 66 people. 

The attacks come as the Trump administration has amassed a massive military presence in the U.S. Southern Command region, with the White House ratcheting up the pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump indicated during his interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" that Maduro's days are numbered.

Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, told The Hill on Wednesday all of the strikes have been conducted against “designated narcoterrorists, as affirmed by US intelligence, bringing deadly poison to our shores” and that President Trump will “continue to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice while maintaining transparency with the Hill.” 

The strikes have drawn scrutiny from Democrats and some Republicans, who have asked for more information about the operations. Lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee received a classified briefing Thursday on the strikes, but they came out unsatisfied with the answers, including about the legal justification upon which the administration is relying. 

The White House argued earlier this week that it does not need to ask for Congress's authorization to continue with the strikes because the operations do not rise to the level of “hostilities” that would warrant one and that U.S. troops are not in danger while the attacks are conducted. 

“Here, the operation comprises precise strikes conducted largely by unmanned aerial vehicles launched from naval vessels in international waters at distances too far away for the crews of the targeted vessels to endanger American personnel,” a senior administration official told The Hill on Monday. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to brief the “Gang of 12” on Wednesday in the Senate about the lethal strikes. 

So far, the administration has provided Congress with 12 bipartisan briefings on the boat attacks, a senior Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Hill on Wednesday. 

The official said the Defense Department is “working through additional requests for information” from congressional lawmakers and “continues to make senior officials available to answer questions.” 

“The Trump administration has been much more forthcoming with the legal rationale behind these strikes than prior administrations,” the official said in a statement.