WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. collided with another small boat President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has been charged with transporting drugs and killing six people in waters off the coast of Venezuela.
The Republican president said in a social media post that those killed in the attack were on the ship and that no U.S. troops were harmed. This is the fifth fatality in the Caribbean region, which the Trump administration claims is treating suspected drug traffickers unfairly. illegal combatant We must counter anyone with military force.
President Trump said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the attack Tuesday morning and, as he has in the past, released a video of it. Hegseth later shared the video on X’s post.
President Trump said the attack took place in international waters and that “intelligence officials” confirmed the ship was trafficking drugs, was involved in a “narco-terrorist network” and was on a known drug trafficking route.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking more information about the recent ship collision.
On Capitol Hill, dissatisfaction with the Trump administration is growing among members of both major political parties. Some Republican lawmakers are seeking more information from the White House about the legal legitimacy and details of the strike. Democrats say the attack violates U.S. and international law.
Last week, the Senate voted on a war powers resolution that would have barred the Trump administration from conducting airstrikes unless specifically authorized by Congress, but it did not pass.
In a memo to Congress obtained by The Associated Press, the Trump administration said it had “determined that the United States is engaged in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations” and that the president had directed the Pentagon to “conduct operations against them under the laws of armed conflict.”
The Trump administration has yet to provide lawmakers with basic evidence to prove that. boat People targeted by U.S. forces in a series of deadly attacks were actually in possession of drugs, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The strike continued Increased U.S. naval power It’s unlike anything seen in the Caribbean recently.
Last week, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino told military leaders that the U.S. government knows the drug trafficking allegations used to support recent actions in the Caribbean are false, and that their true purpose is to “force regime change” in the South American country.
He added that the Venezuelan government does not view the dispatch of US warships as a mere “propaganda move” and warned of the possibility of escalation.
“I want to warn the people: The irrationality of how the American empire is run is not normal, and we must prepare,” Padrino said at a televised rally. “It is anti-political, anti-human, warmongering, rude and vulgar.”
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Associated Press reporter Ben Finley contributed.
