NEWS: The walls are closing in on Trump over illegal strikes
Congress tells the Pentagon, "You're grounded," until the administration releases the strike videos and memos.
The walls are starting to close in on Donald Trump’s secret war at sea.
For three months, the White House has insisted that airstrikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific are lawful, the targets are “narco-terrorists,” and anyone who questions that is helping the cartels. But this week, the circle around the operation started to crack in Congress, inside the Pentagon, and even in Trumpworld media.
In my view, this story is even more significant than the Trump administration’s coverup around the Epstein files. Why? Because this involves direct orders from the president to carry out a program that appears to authorize the murder of suspects, rather than their arrest and prosecution. It’s the type of abuse of power that has sweeping ramifications across our constitutional system of government.
And here’s how it’s starting to fall apart for the president this week.
Congress is set to tell the Pentagon: “You’re grounded.”
Once upon a time, I worked on the Appropriations Committee in Congress. And when push came to shove, we knew that we possessed the most powerful tool to coerce the Executive Branch to do what we wanted: money. This week, that’s what lawmakers are preparing to threaten to withhold if they don’t get answer.
After some Members of Congress viewed the videos of the September 2 strikes, in which two survivors were seen incinerated after potentially waving for help, Congressional leaders are now demanding the administration hand over the files. Both chambers quietly slipped new requirements into the annual defense policy bill that would withhold money from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget — i.e. literally preventing him from flying where he wants — until the Pentagon hands over two things: (1) The actual execute orders (EXORDs) authorizing the boat strikes, not just summaries; and (2) unedited video of the strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, including the September 2 attack and the 20+ follow-on missions.
This is as close to a bipartisan revolt as we’ve seen. Now, I would have probably attached more conditions on it than travel funding, but I’m not going to quibble. Republicans and Democrats on the Armed Services Committees say the Pentagon has blown past legal deadlines to share those orders and has refused to provide full video, despite being required by statute to brief Congress on such operations.
Rep. Adam Smith, the top House Democrat on Armed Services, has already said the video he saw makes the administration’s story look “completely false,” and that it’s “very, very difficult to justify” what’s on the tape. Lawmakers are now using the one language the Pentagon always understands — cash — to put more pressure on them.
Trump is getting heat for back-tracking on promises to release the videos.
As usual, Trump himself has made the situation worse.
Last week, he said he’d have “no problem” releasing whatever videos exist of the September 2 attack. Then, after Hegseth balked and talked about the need to “review” the footage, Trump suddenly claimed he never said that. This was him yesterday at the White House.
Reporter: “Mr. President, you said you would have ‘no problem’ with releasing the full video of that strike on Sept. 2 off the coast of Venezuela. Secretary Hegseth now says —”
Trump: “I didn’t say that. That’s — you said that, I didn’t say that. (turns to someone next to him) This is fake-news ABC…Whatever Pete Hegseth wants to do is OK with me.”
But the administration has already let the cat out of the bag. Democrats who watched the September 2 strike video describe two men in “clear distress,” without weapons or communications gear, clinging to a wrecked hull before being killed in a follow-on strike. The Pentagon is going to have a tough time justifying anything other than exactly what they showed those Members of Congress.
Meanwhile, the admiral who objected is prepared to talk.
The four-star who quietly pushed back on the strikes is no longer staying quiet. Adm. Alvin Holsey, the ousted head of U.S. Southern Command, is set to have virtual meetings with lawmakers this week behind closed doors about his early concerns that the campaign lacked clear legal authority and proper command-and-control.
According to reports, Holsey was pushed out after questioning the legal basis for lethal strikes on alleged drug boats and objecting that key parts of the operation fell outside his chain of command. Now, those same objections are back on the table, and this time with Congress listening.
That alone is bad news for Trump’s team. They’ve portrayed the strikes as having been approved up and down the chain of command. But increasingly, news outlets are reporting how lawyers and officials at almost every level expressed concerns and were either sidelined or ousted until a small set of attorneys met secretly to fashion a memo that would justify the whole operation. That memo, of course, has been kept secret.
New allegations claim the Navy deleted evidence of other survivors.
The scandal is no longer just about one boat. Veteran reporters and whistleblowers have now alleged that sailors aboard the USS Iwo Jima were ordered in October to delete photos and video of wounded survivors rescued after another boat strike and that enlisted personnel pushed back but were overruled.
If true, it’s way more than bad optics. Ordering the destruction of detainee evidence in a legally shaky operation is a huge red flag for obstruction and potential war-crimes exposure. It also suggests what many suspected — that what happened on Sept. 2 wasn’t a one-off but was part of a pattern the Pentagon is now trying to bury.
Indeed, before this unverified story broke, experts were already questioning the separate October incident because the survivors of that strike were not detained for prosecution in the United States, which would be normal procedure if the United States thought the criminals so dangerous that they needed to be killed with airstrikes. Instead, they were sent back to their home countries.
What’s more, the episode also shows that somewhere along the line there was a policy change at the Pentagon, from killing the survivors to rescuing them. That alone undercuts the administration’s claims about how these targets were dangerous individuals who represented an imminent threat to the United States.
Even Trump allies are poking holes in the ‘fentanyl war’ story.
When you’ve lost Laura Loomer, you’ve got a problem, as they say. The far-right activist — a loyal Trump supporter — publicly pointed out this week that “fentanyl isn’t being manufactured in Venezuela,” undercutting the White House narrative that these Venezuelan boats are a central vector of America’s fentanyl crisis. Trump himself has claimed this is a key reason for the strikes.
DEA reporting backs Loomer up. Fentanyl is largely produced by Chinese suppliers and Mexican cartels. Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua (these are the “narco-terrorists” the Trump administration is going after) may dabble in small-scale narcotics, but it is not a major fentanyl source. In other words, even within MAGA media, people are starting to point out that the strategic rationale for this “war” doesn’t match the actual drug threat.
So yes, the walls are starting to close in on Trump.
The Trump administration is still insisting the strikes are legal, as if saying it over and over will make it true. But they’re apparently terrified of public scrutiny. Their stories keep shifting wildly, as we explained earlier this week; they’ve taken the extraordinary step of keeping key documents that would justify such attacks “classified”; and they’re dragging their feet in releasing full videos that would show whether their justifications hold up.
To me, that’s not how a confident, law-abiding government behaves. That’s what coverups look like.
As we reported last night on our DEFIANCE Daily broadcast (link below), this should matter to you. The same people who are stretching the “War on Terror” framework to blow up drug boats abroad are already trying to import that logic back home. The Trump administration is making a new push for the FBI to target so-called “anti-American, anti-capitalist, and anti-Christian” groups as potential domestic terrorists.
If they can get away with redefining fishermen and smugglers as “terrorists” on the high seas, there is nothing stopping them from redefining political opponents the same way on U.S. soil. Watch our conversation about it last night (and yes, I have a terrible cold, so apologies for the audio):
That said, accountability does feel closer than ever on this. When the legal memos and unedited videos finally see daylight, I strongly suspect they’ll implicate more than just a few bad calls at sea. More likely, they’ll expose how this administration’s contempt for the rule of law — and its willingness to use military power as a presidential plaything — are letting Donald Trump get away with literal murder. And no matter how much they stonewall and how long they drag their feet, this one will not go away.
P.S. If this story continues to alarm you as much as it does me, then you should tune in TOMORROW NIGHT @ 5p ET for our Weekly Mission Briefing. That’s when we talk about what we’re doing about combating Trump’s abuses of power. And this week, we’ll be supporting folks going on “legal offense” against the president — and giving you options to help. More details below.
P.P.S. If you’re not following us on social media, now you can get the latest updates. You can follow us on Instagram, TikTok, X, Threads, and BlueSky. Phew.
Your friend, in defiance,
P.S. WHAT’S HAPPENING ON DEFIANCE.NEWS
Here’s what’s coming up.
TONIGHT / DEFIANCE Daily / 5pm ET - This week, we are keeping our DEFIANCE broadcasts at 5pm ET. Many of you have asked for this so you can join us LIVE, especially West Coasters! So tune in. We’ll be on-camera, LIVE, and with special guests. You can join here.
WEDNESDAY / Weekly Mission Briefing / 5pm ET - Don’t forget! Every Weds @ 5p ET we do a LIVE broadcast focused on how we are fighting back at DEFIANCE.org. This week, we have a killer panel of guests talking about going on “legal offense” against Donald Trump — and a surprise about how we’re going to help a key org do exactly that. You can watch LIVE right here or on our YouTube channel.
**STOCKING STUFFER REMINDER** — If you want to send a powerful message this holiday season, you can actually send a Constitution to pro-Trump Members of Congress — with a message reminding them their oath is to the Constitution, not to the president. We’ll hand deliver it just after the holidays. And you’ll get a printable certificate you can put in a Christmas stocking or holiday gift bag, letting someone know that you sent it in their name. Give the gift of defiance here: https://www.defiance.org/swag/p/constitutions-for-congress 100% of the proceeds go to DEFIANCE.org and the pro-democracy fight.
So much of what the regime is doing is outside the law and the Constitution that it's about time something is starting to break through the gridlock of yes men in Congress. It was insane that the SignalGate episode didn't eliminate Hegseth from the picture!
I hope this breakthrough extends to other areas such as the attacks the EU. That the long partnership with those countries is being eschewed in favor of some ludicrous "America First" cover that is really "Trump first" would make all those who fought in WWII roll over in their proverbial graves and, in my opinion, is in itself anti-American.
The attack on Americans in terms of beliefs (freedom of which is guaranteed by the First Amendment), speaking out against rampant capitalism, and American actions is as predicted with the previous warnings about NSB 7. Where is the line drawn about when a person has gone so far at to be considered anti-American? If you are not Christian, are you anti-Christian?
Finally, thanks for moving the Defiance Radio broadcast to 5pm. I know it's difficult to find a slot that accommodates the majority of our members.
Hi Miles, I know that you are trying out a new time and format for the daily defiance news, but I miss the radio broadcast every morning. I love that format. Thanks