A deadly US strike on an alleged drug ship has sparked bipartisan outrage in Washington, where lawmakers question whether the double attack, which claimed the lives of survivors of the initial strike, may amount to a war crime. The Pentagon and members of the Trump administration appear to place blame on Admiral Frank Bradley, who oversaw the operation on behalf of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, while insisting that the mission was legal.
In a lengthy Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Donald Trump upped his rhetoric on drug trafficking by threatening military action against any country he claims is illegally sending drugs into the United States.
Later in the day, the family of a Colombian man killed in one of the raids filed a complaint, marking the first formal filing against the Trump administration in connection with US strikes on alleged drug vessels.
Officials say the Trump administration is “selling out” the admiral over the boat strikes
The Pentagon has made a scapegoat of a Navy admiral for the double extrajudicial attack that killed survivors of a September 2 attack on an alleged drug boat, and has vowed to continue operations, even as lawmakers investigate whether the attack constitutes a war crime.
During a Cabinet meeting alongside Donald Trump on Tuesday, Pete Hegseth said: “We’re just starting to hit drug boats and put drug terrorists on the bottom of the ocean.” He defended Bradley, who is scheduled to give a classified briefing to lawmakers who oversee the military on Thursday, saying that Trump “always has our backs” and that “we always have the support of our leaders who make decisions in difficult situations.”
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Trump threatens to strike any country he claims manufactures drugs for the United States
Donald Trump has warned that any country believed to be manufacturing drugs illegally destined for the US would be vulnerable to military attack. The US President’s statements came during a question-and-answer session at the White House, in which he also said that military strikes on ground targets inside Venezuela “will begin very soon.” Trump said he believes that any country that produces drugs for the purpose of smuggling them is fair game, echoing previous threats directed at Mexico.
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The family of the victim in the Trump drug boat killing files the first official complaint
Exclusive: A family in Colombia filed a petition on Tuesday with the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that Colombian national Alejandro Carranza Medina was unlawfully killed in a US airstrike on September 15.
The petition marks the first formal complaint about the Trump administration’s airstrikes against suspected drug boats, attacks that the White House says are justified under a new interpretation of the law.
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Donald Trump called Somali immigrants “trash” and said they should be sent home in comments that came as the administration was reportedly increasing immigration enforcement against undocumented Somalis in Minnesota. In a xenophobic rant during a Cabinet meeting, Trump attacked Somalis and Ilhan Omar, a Somali congressional representative and American citizen. He said that Somalia “stinks” and “is not good for some reason.”
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Billionaires donate $6.25 billion to encourage families to claim Trump accounts
Michael and Susan Dell’s donation is intended to provide an incentive for 25 million American children under the age of 10 to claim new children’s investment accounts created as part of Donald Trump’s tax and spending legislation. This historic gift is without precedent, as few individual philanthropic commitments in the past 25 years have exceeded $1 billion, let alone several billion dollars.
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Trump officials threaten to withhold Snap funds from Democratic-led states
The Trump administration has threatened to suspend Snap food aid to several Democratic-led states unless they turn over recipient data to the federal government. The agriculture secretary said the USDA could start blocking the funds as early as next week if Democratic-led states continue to reject federal requests for Snap recipients’ data — information that includes immigration status and Social Security numbers.
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What else happened today:
Catch up? Here’s what happened Monday 1 December.