Pete Hegseth's own words resurface to blow up denials of illegal order: report

Damaging videos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth keep re-emerging as he fights off a scandal over an allegedly illegal order.

The defense secretary reportedly gave a “spoken directive” to kill everyone aboard an alleged drug smuggling boat, so Admiral Frank Bradley ordered a follow-on missile strike after a first left two survivors clinging to the wreckage.

Hegseth gave an interview shortly after the Sept. 2 attack claiming to have watched the entire mission via drone footage, reported Newsweek.

"I can tell you that was definitely not artificial intelligence," Hegseth told a former colleague during an interview with Fox News. "I watched it live. We knew exactly who was in that boat, we knew exactly what they were doing and we knew exactly who they represented, and that was Tren de Aragua, a narco trafficking organization designated by the United States, trying to poison our country with illicit drugs."

Hegseth last week claimed the Washington Postreport on his directive was "fake news" and "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory," but the White House said Monday that the defense secretary had authorized the admiral to carry out the strikes, saying Bradley "worked well within his authority and the law."

The newly resurfaced comments raise questions about how closely involved Hegseth was in the mission, and MS NOW's "Morning Joe" also aired previous comments from the defense secretary questioning whether the military should follow rules of engagement.

“We're training warriors, not defenders," Hegseth told top military leaders at a controversial gathering in late September. "We fight wars to win, not to defend. We also don't fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country.”

“No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense," he added during that speech. "Maximum lethality and authority for warfighters."

The Trump administration has carried out more than 20 strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing at least 83 people, and the attacks have been questioned as possible violations of domestic and international law, and Hegseth's order has also been described as a possible war crime or even murder.

"The White House swore Pete Hegseth knew nothing about the Caribbean strikes," posted news analyst Brian Allen on X. "Then a video surfaces of him bragging he watched it happen live. That’s not mixed messaging, that’s a full-blown cover-up caught in 4K."

"WOW: The White House been caught in another lie," agreed Democratic influencer Harry Sisson. "After claiming Pete Hegseth didn’t know anything about the strikes in the Caribbean, footage has resurfaced of him in September saying he watched it LIVE. Completely exposed."