Trump: Will investigate attack on boat

TT

Published 05.34

 

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on Air Force One. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP/TT

US President Donald Trump will investigate reports that the US military carried out a follow-up attack on a suspected drug boat to ensure that everyone on board was killed.

Trump said on Sunday American time that he would not have wanted to see a second attack.

– We will investigate the matter, but no, I would not have wanted that, not a second attack. The first was very deadly, he said according to AFP.

The response comes after The Washington Post reported that a follow-up attack on a suspected drug boat on September 2 was carried out to kill survivors of the first.

The information, which has also been confirmed by sources including CNN, raises new questions about the legality of US operations in the Caribbean Sea.

The attack in question was the first in a series this fall against boats that the US government claims are transporting drugs to the US.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth had given a verbal order before the attack that everyone on board would be killed, two sources with insight into the matter told The Washington Post.

When the smoke cleared after the first hits, a live broadcast from drones showed two survivors clinging to the wreckage. The commander in charge then ordered more missiles to be fired – to carry out Hegseth’s orders, according to the reports.

Hegseth has dismissed the reports as “fake news” and Trump has so far backed his secretary of war.

“I will find out, but Pete said he did not order the men to die,” Trump says.