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President Donald Trump on Sunday defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth over allegations he ordered a second strike on a Venezuelan drug boat, saying he believes Hegseth’s denial and would not have supported a follow-up attack if it happened.
The exchange came during a gaggle aboard Air Force One as reporters pressed Trump on claims that Hegseth authorized a second strike that allegedly killed two wounded men after an earlier attack on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel.
Trump repeatedly said Hegseth denied giving such an order. He added that he was aware of the allegation but stressed that Hegseth told him the claim was untrue and that he accepted that explanation without hesitation.
“He said he did not say that, and I believe him 100%,” Trump said.
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President Donald Trump defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth amid allegations he ordered a second strike on an alleged narcotics vessel in the Caribbean on Sept. 2, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Reporters asked Trump whether he would have approved a second strike if Hegseth had ordered one, prompting him to again distance himself from the allegation while stressing that he trusted his secretary of war.
Trump said he planned to seek additional information about the reported incident but reiterated that Hegseth assured him nothing improper happened.
“No, I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike,” Trump said.
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth answers a question from a reporter during a roundtable on criminal cartels in the State Dining Room of the White House, on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Still, he praised the wider campaign targeting drug-smuggling boats, saying the strikes had sharply reduced the flow of narcotics into the U.S. by sea in recent months.
Trump argued the vessels posed a deadly threat and framed the operations as necessary to protect Americans, calling the missions lethal but justified.
“You can see the boats,” he said. “You can see the drugs in the boats and each boat is responsible for killing 25,000 Americans.”
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Video footage showed the vessel shortly before it was destroyed. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social)
Trump went to Hegseth’s defense after reports from outlets such as The Washington Post and CNN claimed the U.S. military ordered a second strike on a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean on Sept. 2 after the earlier attack left two survivors.
According to The Washington Post, the commander overseeing that operation told colleagues on a secure conference call that the survivors were legitimate targets because they could still contact other traffickers for help and ordered the second strike to comply with what he said was a directive from Hegseth that everyone must be killed.
“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland,” Hegseth wrote on X on Friday.
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“As we’ve said from the beginning and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes,’” Hegseth continued. “The declared intent is to stop lethal drugs, destroy narco-boats and kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”
Digital’s Greg Norman and Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
