Trump said he ordered the strike, and that no U.S. forces were harmed. Those targeted were “transporting illegal narcotics,” he said.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. military conducted a second strike on what he described as “violent drug trafficking cartels” from Venezuela, killing three people in international waters, in an ongoing campaign that has raised bipartisan concerns about due process.
Trump said he ordered the strike and no U.S. forces were harmed. Those targeted were “transporting illegal narcotics,” Trump said Sept. 15 in a social media post.
Republican and Democratic lawmakers questioned the tactics after an earlier strike on a suspected drug boat.
“What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial,” U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, wrote online after Vice President JD Vance touted the earlier strike.
The U.S. military killed 11 alleged Tren da Aragua members aboard a suspected drug boat originating from Venezuela in the southern Caribbean on Sept. 2. Democrats wrote the Trump administration a letter Sept. 10 asking about the legal basis for the strike.
“We assert that Congress made no declaration of war nor did it authorize the use of military forcefor future similar operations,” the letter reads. “Classifying a clear law enforcement mission as counterterrorism does not confer legal authority to target and kill civilians.”
