President Donald Trump posted what appeared to be footage of the first strike on 2 September, external, on his Truth Social platform. The 29-second clip purports to show the first attack from two different angles although the images are not clear.
The president has since indicated he would have “no problem” with footage of the follow-up strike being published.
Two months later, the Washington Post reported that Hegseth had directed the US military to “kill everybody” on board the boat, external during the operation. The second strike was carried out to comply with Hegseth’s original command, the outlet reported.
Hegseth described that news report about the strikes as “fake news” on X., external
On 1 December, after confirming there had been a second strike, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that the operation was carried out “to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat of narco terrorists to the United States was completely eliminated”.
Leavitt also said that Admiral Bradley “worked well within his authority and the law”.
During a televised cabinet meeting the day after, Hegseth indicated the boat was already badly damaged by the initial blast.
“I did not personally see survivors […] that thing was on fire. It was exploded. And fire and smoke, you can’t see anything,” he said.
According to the BBC’s US partner CBS News,, external Admiral Bradley was expected to say in a closed door briefing to Congress on Thursday that the survivors were attempting to climb back onto the boat before it was hit a second time.
Democratic Representative Jim Himes, who attended the meeting, told reporters that footage of the second strike showed that the survivors, while carrying drugs, were “not in the position to continue their mission in any way”.
Himes also said that Bradley denied that there had been a “kill them all” order, CBS reported.