US Lawmakers Call for Investigation Into Trump’s ‘Drug Boat’ Attacks

Dec 2, 2025 at 01:31 PM

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Lanka Leader

A group of U.S. lawmakers has reportedly called for a legal review of President Donald Trump’s authorization of attacks on suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

Their concerns intensified after The Washington Post reported on the 28th that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had allegedly ordered the killing of survivors from a burning vessel.

“If the report is true, it is a clear violation of the Department of Defense’s own laws of war, as well as international law regarding the treatment of individuals in such situations. So if it is true, this amounts to a war crime,” Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia told CBS News on Sunday.

Kaine noted that he and several colleagues are “deeply concerned” about the “entire legal rationale for the attacks.” He previously attempted—unsuccessfully—to pass a bill that would have barred Trump from launching military action against Venezuela without congressional approval.

Representative Mike Turner, a Republican from Ohio, likewise told CBS that “there are very serious concerns in Congress about the attacks on so-called drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and about the legal justification that has been provided for them.”

Hegseth dismissed the Post report as “fake news,” reiterating that the operations were intended to “intercept deadly drugs, destroy drug boats, and kill narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people.”

The Trump administration has accused Venezuela’s leftist government of aiding drug cartels, while Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against the country. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has denied any links to organized crime and warned the United States against launching what he called another “mad war.”