Members of President Donald Trump's cabinet laughed as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a joke about military strikes that kill alleged drug smugglers without a trial.
During a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Hegseth bragged about "going after narco terrorists and designated terrorist organizations in our own hemisphere."
"We've only just begun striking narco boats and putting narco terrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they've been poisoning the American people," he continued. "So we're stopping the drugs, we're striking the boats, we're defeating narco terrorists."
"We've had a bit of a pause because it's hard to find boats to strike right now."
The remark prompted laughter from members of Trump's team — despite the attacks putting Hegseth in the crosshairs of war crime accusations.
"Which is the entire point," Hegseth added. "Deterrence has to matter, not arrest and handover and then do it again, the rinse and repeat approach of previous administrations."
Lawmakers from both parties have warned that Hegseth may have committed war crimes after reports claimed that he authorized a secondary attack on disabled boats to kill the survivors.