The U.S. Navy admiral blamed by the White House for a second lethal strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat is set to be grilled by lawmakers Thursday, ratcheting up the pressure on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s handling of the operation.
Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who commanded Joint Special Operations Command at the time of the Sept. 2 mission, was authorized by Hegseth to conduct the “double tap” airstrike that killed all of the remaining survivors, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Bradley is set to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and answer their questions behind closed doors after Hegseth was accused of potential “war crimes” over the strikes.
The senior commander ordered an attack on two survivors of the first strike after Hegseth’s directive to “kill everybody,” The Washington Post first reported.
Hegseth said the claims were “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory.”
Bradley is expected to tell lawmakers that the second attack was ordered after the suspects were seen aboard the vessel with packages of illegal drugs— a claim that would rebut allegations of war crimes—according to the Wall Street Journal.
Separately, Hegseth has also been doing damage control after a classified report found that he risked endangering U.S. troops by sharing highly sensitive information about military operations on a Signal group chat earlier this year.
Recap: How did we get here?
- Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley is appearing in front of lawmakers behind closed doors today following intense scrutiny of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s handling of the lethal strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats on Sept. 2.
- Last week the Washington Post dropped a report alleging that Hegseth gave a directive to “kill everybody.” After the first airstrike did not kill everyone aboard the vessel, which the Trump administration claimed was a “narco vessel,” a second strike was ordered to comply with Hegseth’s directive.
- The White House shifted the blame to Bradley, while Hegseth said he “did not personally see survivors” before the second hit was carried out.
- Hegseth has since said that Bradley made “the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.”
- Both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees pushed the administration and Pentagon for the legal rationale for the military campaign against supposed “narco terrorists.”
Admiral set to provide classified briefing to lawmakers today on lethal attacks on ‘drug boats’
The Navy admiral who reportedly issued orders for the U.S. military to fire upon survivors of an attack on an alleged drug boat is expected Thursday on Capitol Hill to provide a classified briefing to top congressional lawmakers overseeing national security.
The information from Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who is now the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, comes at a potentially crucial moment in the unfolding congressional investigation into how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth handled the military operation in international waters near Venezuela. There are mounting questions over whether the strike may have violated the law.
Lawmakers are seeking a full accounting of the strikes after The Washington Post reported that Bradley on Sept. 2 ordered an attack on two survivors to comply with Hegseth’s directive to “kill everybody.” Legal experts say the incident amounts to a crime if the survivors were targeted, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are demanding accountability.
