Hegseth announces another US attack on alleged drug boat off Venezuelan coast
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday he ordered another strike on a boat off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, killing four "male narcoterrorists," in what appears to be the Trump administration's fourth time using extraordinary lethal military force against a criminal enterprise.
Hegseth and later President Donald Trump posted video of the strike, which appeared to hit a small speedboat.
"A boat loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE was stopped, early this morning off the Coast of Venezuela, from entering American Territory," Trump declared.
Hegseth said no U.S. forces were harmed during the operations.
"The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics - headed to America to poison our people," Hegseth said in an X post on Friday, including footage of the attack.
The defense secretary didn't say who was killed, insisting only that intelligence "confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route."
This is now the fourth strike off the coast of Venezuela in what the Trump administration insists are international waters. On Sept. 2, the military said it hit a boat, killing 11 on board who Trump claimed were members of Tren de Aragua. Subsequent strikes on Sept. 15 and Sept. 19 also resulted in several deaths, although the Trump administration declined to say who was killed and how they knew the boats were headed toward the U.S.
At one point, Vice President J.D. Vance joked, "I wouldn't go fishing right now."
Some legal experts have questioned the use of military force against what appears to be civilian criminal networks that have historically been handled by law enforcement.
The Trump administration says its operations are justified, though, because it views all drug cartels as "foreign terrorist organizations." When pressed by lawmakers for more details, officials told Congress this week that they believe the U.S. is engaged in "armed conflict" with drug cartels and that they believe anyone smuggling illegal drugs should be considered "unlawful combatants." The term is a legal one used during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars by the government to justify lethal force by military troops as well as indefinite detention.
Putting drug runners in the same camp as al-Qaida fighters on the battlefield is considered a stretch by many legal experts who say that's never been done.
One official on Capitol Hill told ABC News this week that lawmakers were interpreting the latest notice on the strikes as the administration "essentially waging a secret war against secret enemies, without the consent of Congress."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday at a press conference that the strikes were "pursuant to his constitutional authority as commander in chief and the chief executive to conduct foreign relations."
"The president has been very clear, dating back to the campaign trail, that he is always going to do what's in the best interest of the American homeland," she said.
U.S. officials have long claimed that Venezuelan cocaine shipments contribute to overdose deaths in the U.S. -- and they accuse the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro, of facilitating drug trafficking, which he denies. The Trump administration has placed a $50 million bounty on his head for his arrest.
Hegseth defended the move as legal in his post, without offering details, and warned it could happen again.
"Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route," he wrote. "These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!"
There are currently eight Navy ships operating in the Caribbean, with F-35 jets and MQ-9 Reaper drones spotted in Puerto Rico.
ABC's Mariam Khan contributed to this story.
