Overview
- After saying last week he would release the footage, the president now says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will decide on making the full video public, a reversal that follows the White House’s confirmation of a second strike.
- Lawmakers who viewed the recording said it showed two unarmed, shipwrecked men killed after the initial attack, and experts note the Pentagon’s Law of War Manual deems firing on shipwreck survivors clearly illegal, prompting calls for inquiries.
- Adm. Frank Bradley told Congress the targeted vessel was linking up with a ship bound for Suriname, challenging earlier claims the drugs were headed to the United States as allies increasingly cite a terrorist designation to justify the strikes.
- The annual defense policy bill would require the Pentagon to provide congressional committees with unedited strike videos and threatens to withhold a quarter of the department’s travel funds if it fails to do so.
- The campaign now totals 22 strikes and at least 87 deaths, Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gen. Dan Caine are set to brief senior lawmakers, Trump declined to rule out sending troops to Venezuela, U.S. naval forces have surged in the Caribbean, and Southern Command chief Alvin Holsey is stepping down early.