A top U.S. Navy admiral has testified to Congress that he was never given a "kill them all" order, contradicting explosive reports, as lawmakers clash over a disturbing video showing American forces killing survivors of an initial strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean.
In a dramatic closed-door Capitol Hill showdown, the commander of a controversial U.S. military strike has denied receiving an order to execute survivors, even as lawmakers emerged deeply divided over footage they described as "one of the most troubling things" they've ever seen.
The testimony from Admiral Frank Bradley before House and Senate committees on Thursday sought to defuse a firestorm over a September 2nd attack. The strike, part of President Trump's aggressive "drug boat" campaign, targeted a vessel off Trinidad. After an initial bombing, a follow-up strike killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage, prompting reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had verbally ordered that all on board be killed—a potential war crime.
"I saw two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel, who are killed by the United States," said Representative Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, after viewing the full video. "Any American who sees the video that I saw will see the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors."
However, Admiral Bradley and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine told lawmakers there was no "kill them all" or "no quarter" order. Republican Senator Tom Cotton emerged as a staunch defender, describing "righteous strikes" and claiming the two survivors were "trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs... back over so they could stay in the fight."
The conflicting accounts place the unseen video at the center of a legal and political maelstrom. President Trump, who posted footage of the first strike on Truth Social, has pledged to release the full video, but the Pentagon has yet to do so.
The incident has sparked bipartisan alarm and intensified scrutiny of the entire air campaign, which has killed 83 people in 21 strikes since September. Legal experts argue the campaign itself is on shaky ground. "The president... can’t just make up a conflict. There isn’t one," said Sarah Yager of Human Rights Watch, noting that Congress has not declared war. Marcus Stanley of the Quincy Institute called the strikes "a totally extrajudicial process."
While some Republicans, like Senator Thom Tillis, have voiced strong concern, Senate Democrats are preparing a war powers resolution to challenge the campaign's legality. For now, the nation awaits the video that one side calls evidence of a war crime and the other a justified act of war.
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