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Navy admiral that Hegseth, White House say made call to kill boat bomb survivors, to brief Congress this week

December 2, 2025 | | Print Article

War Secretary Pete Hegseth and the New York Times have confirmed that the order to kill the survivors of a drug boat bombing in September was issued by Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley.

On Sept. 2, Hegseth ordered the bombing of a drug-smuggling boat off the coast of Trinidad. After an initial strike, two survivors remained.

Reporting by the Washington Post published last week alleged that Hegseth then ordered an additional strike to kill the survivors.

This bombshell by the post triggered accusations from the deranged that Hegseth had committed a war crime:

But new reporting by the Times published Monday revealed otherwise.

“According to five U.S. officials … Hegseth, ahead of the Sept. 2 attack, ordered a strike that would kill the people on the boat and destroy the vessel and its purported cargo of drugs,” the Times reported.

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“But, each official said, Mr. Hegseth’s directive did not specifically address what should happen if a first missile turned out not to fully accomplish all of those things,” the reporting continued.

More importantly, the officials revealed that, after following Hegseth’s directions and completing an “initial missile strike,” Bradley then completed “several follow-up strikes” — and that he did so without the War Secretary giving him “any further orders.”

In other words, Bradley is technically responsible for the second strike that killed the surviving drug smugglers.

Hegseth himself confirmed this narrative in a tweet posted late Monday in which he rushed to Bradley’s defense.

“Let’s make one thing crystal clear: Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support,” he wrote. “I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since.”

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Some critics subsequently accused Hegseth of throwing Bradley under the bus.

“How to point the finger at someone while pretending to support him,” Fox News’ Brit Hume mockingly wrote about the War Secretary’s tweet.

Earlier Monday afternoon on Fox News’ “Special Report,” Hume predicted that the Post’s reporting (which, as a reminder, has since been debunked) would be a “big problem” for the Trump administration.

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“Eliminating the survivors would be a big problem if that’s what it was all about,” he said. “If they were killed in the course of the rest of the boat being destroyed, if it was sufficiently intact caused military personnel to think that the job had not been finished; that’s another matter.”

(Video Credit: Fox News)

Like Hegseth, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also rushed to Bradley’s defense on Monday.

“Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” she said on Monday. “Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.”

Bradley, for his part, is scheduled to provide Congress with a classified briefing on Thursday.

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Meanwhile, both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees have announced investigations into the Sept. 2 boat strike.

“If what has been reported is accurate, I’ve got serious concerns about anybody in that, you know, chain of command stepping over a line that they should never step over,” Sen. Mark Kelly said to CNN on Sunday regarding the Post’s now-debunked reporting.

“We are not Russia. We’re not Iraq. We hold ourselves to a very high standard of professionalism,” he added.

Vivek Saxena
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