WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Wednesday intensified his demands for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to release the full, unedited tapes of the September 2 U.S. military strikes on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean, arguing that the administration’s opacity not only jeopardizes legal protections for American service members but also undermines public confidence in the escalating counter-narcotics campaign near Venezuela.
"It's been almost a week since a report came out saying Secretary (Pete) Hegseth potentially ordered the indiscriminate killings of survivors clinging to a vessel in the Caribbean, and we still, still do not know the truth, because Pete Hegseth has not released the full tapes of the strike," Schumer declared from the Senate floor, his voice echoing the frustration shared by lawmakers across the aisle. The New York Democrat framed the incident as a pivotal test of transparency in the Trump administration’s aggressive "Operation Southern Spear," a series of lethal interdictions targeting boats allegedly linked to Venezuelan drug networks, which has already claimed over 80 lives since its launch in early September.
Schumer’s remarks, delivered amid bipartisan calls for congressional oversight, highlighted what he described as a "failure of leadership" at the Pentagon that could expose U.S. troops to war crimes prosecutions under international law. "It’s an incredibly serious matter. It’s about the safety of our troops," he emphasized, pointing to allegations that the follow-up strike on survivors may contravene the Geneva Conventions’ prohibitions on targeting shipwrecked individuals. "This is an incident that could expose our members of the armed forces to legal consequences, and yet the American public and the Congress are still not hearing the basic facts."
The controversy stems from a Washington Post investigation published late last month, which revealed that the U.S. military executed a "double-tap" operation on September 2: an initial missile strike that destroyed the vessel and killed nine people, followed by a second attack that eliminated two Colombian survivors clinging to debris. The report cited anonymous U.S. officials describing a verbal directive from Hegseth—issued during a live watch from the Pentagon’s operations center—to "kill everybody" on board, a phrase that has ignited debates over whether the strikes constitute extrajudicial executions rather than lawful self-defense. Legal experts have labeled such actions as "murder," arguing they bypass due process and violate the U.S. Department of Defense’s own Law of War Manual, which explicitly prohibits targeting shipwrecked survivors.
In response to the uproar, Hegseth has mounted a vigorous defense, dismissing the Post’s account as "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory" while attributing discrepancies to the inherent chaos of combat. During a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the former Fox News host explained that he observed the first strike live but departed the operations room after about an hour for another engagement, missing the subsequent decision-making. "We got a lot of things to do, so I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours … So I moved on to my next meeting," Hegseth told reporters, adding that he "did not see any survivors" due to the "fog of war"—a thick pall of fire, smoke, and explosions obscuring visibility.
The admiral in charge, Frank "Mitch" Bradley of U.S. Special Operations Command, ultimately authorized the second strike, which the White House maintains was a "right call" executed under Hegseth’s broad pre-mission approval for lethal action against "narco-terrorists." Bradley, whom Hegseth praised as an "American hero" on social media, is slated to brief the Senate and House Armed Services Committees in a classified session on Thursday, where lawmakers anticipate probing the chain of command and evidentiary basis for the operation. Yet Schumer and others insist that classified sessions are insufficient; they demand public release of the full video and audio logs, which the Pentagon possesses, to allow independent verification.
Schumer lambasted Hegseth’s shifting narrative as emblematic of deeper inconsistencies. "The day after the boat strikes, Hegseth said on Fox News he watched the entire operation live,” the minority leader recounted. “He told us in person that he was in the room, that he was part of the operation, but then yesterday, he totally reversed himself and said he didn’t see the second strike everyone’s wondering about." This evolution—from claiming full oversight to invoking the "fog of war"—has fueled skepticism, with Schumer questioning: "What could have been possibly more important? … Secretary Hegseth went missing for two hours during a military strike against an alleged drug trafficker or traffickers. What is Secretary Hegseth hiding?"
The senator’s pointed rhetoric underscores a rare bipartisan consensus emerging in Congress. Republican Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the respective leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a joint statement vowing "vigorous oversight" and have already requested detailed Pentagon documentation. House Republicans, including former Intelligence Committee chair Mike Turner, have echoed concerns, with Turner decrying the September 2 incident as "completely outside of anything that has been discussed with Congress." Even President Donald Trump, a staunch Hegseth ally, has distanced himself slightly, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that he "would not have wanted" the second strike and believes his defense secretary’s denials, though he affirmed the overall campaign’s necessity.
This push for accountability unfolds against the backdrop of Operation Southern Spear’s rapid expansion. Launched on September 2 as the inaugural strike, the initiative has since ballooned into at least 21 operations across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, sinking vessels purportedly operated by groups like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua—designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S.—and Colombia’s National Liberation Army. U.S. officials claim the boats were laden with cocaine destined for American streets, justifying the actions as defensive measures in an "armed conflict" with narco-cartels. Trump has amplified the rhetoric, warning during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting that "countries manufacturing and selling drugs to the US are subject to attack" and hinting at imminent land-based operations, potentially escalating toward Venezuelan soil.
Critics, including Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, decry the strikes as provocative aggression masked as counter-drug efforts, aimed at regime change to seize oil reserves. Maduro’s government has mobilized its military in response, while international voices—from Pope Leo XIV urging dialogue to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights fielding complaints from victims’ families—have condemned the operations as escalatory and unlawful. Domestically, a Harvard CAPS/Harris poll from early October showed 71% public support for destroying drug boats, but that backing has waned amid war crime allegations, with Democrats like Sen. Tim Kaine refiling war powers resolutions to curb unauthorized force in the region.
Schumer concluded his floor speech with a clarion call: "Why does his story keep changing? Why won't he release the tapes? The tapes will show the American people what really happened on September 2. The American people and every person serving in our military deserves to hear the truth." As Bradley’s briefing looms and resolutions gain traction, the fate of Hegseth’s tenure—and the trajectory of U.S.-Venezuela tensions—may hinge on those withheld recordings. For now, the "fog of war" envelops not just the Caribbean waves, but the halls of power in Washington, where demands for clarity grow louder by the day.
