Overview
- Loomer, a top Trump adviser, argued that fentanyl is not manufactured in Venezuela and said most U.S.-bound supply comes via Mexico with chemicals from China.
- She questioned why strikes have centered on Venezuelan boats after reporting showed more than 80 people killed since September in attacks on alleged drug-running vessels.
- Military officials told lawmakers in a closed briefing that the targeted boats carried cocaine rather than fentanyl, undercutting the stated rationale.
- A recent DEA assessment linked U.S. fentanyl to China-based chemical suppliers and Mexican transnational criminal organizations and did not identify Venezuela as a source.
- Admiral Frank Bradley testified that one targeted vessel was not headed to the United States, even as President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth continue to defend the operation.