The longer President Donald Trump's administration delays releasing the video of the deadly September 2, 2025 boat strike in the Caribbean Sea, the more suspicious they appear, according to one Republican member of the House of Representatives.
CNN correspondent Manu Raju reported Wednesday that Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) — who is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee — issued a new call for the Department of Defense to release the video of the strike, which reportedly shows a U.S. missile blowing up a boat with 11 people on board, before a second missile blows up two survivors clinging to the boat's wreckage roughly 40 minutes later.
"It looks like you're trying to hide something," McCaul said. "And so, from my 22 years in elected office, it's always better to be transparent and honest with the American people."
McCaul further demanded Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testify before Congress about the strike to answer questions from lawmakers, telling Raju: "We are a separate but equal branch of government under Article I of the Constitution."
The Texas Republican's demand to see the full video comes on the heels of Trump going back on his previous promise to release the video of the strike, when he told reporters last Wednesday: "Whatever they have, we’d certainly release." When ABC News' Rachel Scott pressed Trump about it earlier this week, the president snapped at her and called her "obnoxious." He's now deferring to Hegseth on the question of whether to release the video.
Members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees have already begun official inquiries into the strike with the Department of Defense. Some lawmakers have seen the video of the strike in a closed-door briefing earlier this month, though the video has not been made available to the rest of Congress.
"What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service," said Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), who is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.
