Despite the manipulative effort of the original CIA report (Washington Post), which was purposefully intended to undermine the authority and legitimacy of the Trump administration, Secretary Pete Hegseth did not order a second strike on the drug carrying narcoterrorism boat. The second strike was authorized by General Bradley as part of the mission objective.
Hegseth’s order was to “destroy” the vessel. The vessel was not completely “destroyed” in the first attack, it was “disabled.” A second attack was ordered independently by General Bradley to render the vessel destroyed and compete the mission.
If the vessel was destroyed the mission was complete. If the vessel was disabled, the mission objective remained active until the vessel was destroyed. This is not complicated to understand.
New York Times Confirms Hegseth Did Not Order Second Strike on Venezuela Narcoterrorist Boat
What the New York Times calls sources, I call the putrefaction of journalism.
They are all ‘anonymous’ sources, so they can’t be verified, which means if these sources don’t exist, (which they probably don’t), no one would ever know…which suits the NYT just fine!
Assuming they do exist, we are told there are five sources…U.S. officials ‘who spoke separately’... What exactly does ‘separately’ mean, since I presume they didn’t all speak at once?)
And what legitimacy does the anonymous testimony of ‘five U.S. officials’ lend to the NYT piece, when a few years back, 51 U.S. officials who signed their names to a letter claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation, were all lying?
The NYT closes this poison mushroom piece by claiming it calmed the ‘political and legal uproar’ caused by last week’s forehead-thumpingly dullard of a story in The Washington Post, which informed those of us still awake to the end that, if Mr. Hegseth HAD ordered the execution of shipwrecked sailors, well THAT would be ‘a violation of the laws of war!‘
Yes, THAT sure would be a violation of the laws of war, if Hegseth HAD ordered it, but no one claimed that he did order it…not even those anonymous sources!
So this is this all much ado about nothing?
Let’s make one thing crystal clear:
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) December 1, 2025
Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.
America is fortunate to have such men protecting…
