Trump’s strike likely constitutes ‘murder’ under international law: legal expert

A former Defense Department special counsel and New York University law professor didn't mince words Wednesday evening, accusing the Trump administration of murder in a scathing thread posted to X.

This week, Trump announced a strike on a vessel in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, killing 11 people on board. He said the ship was believed to be carrying narcotics to the United States.

But that doesn't justify the degree of force the administration used, legal expert Ryan Goodman said.

"I worked at DoD. I literally cannot imagine lawyers coming up with a legal basis for lethal strike of suspected Venezuelan drug boat. Hard to see how this would not be 'murder' or war crime under international law that DoD considers applicable," wrote Goodman, linking to a more extensive analysis on Just Security by Brian Finucane.

"The author of the expert analysis worked at the State Department under several administrations with these types of use of force issues as his portfolio," Goodman continued. "The best line of argument for the administration might be that the law of armed conflict somehow applies. But if so (and it doesn't), that means the US War Crimes Act applies too, including the prohibition on murder."

Meanwhile, Goodman said, if the law of armed conflict does not apply, then "DoD has a long-standing view that assassination and murder are part of the customary international human rights law that applies to military action beyond U.S. borders."

Goodman concluded by quoting Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who justified the action by saying that interdicting drug trafficking vessels doesn't work and "what will stop them is if you blow them up."

"These statements by Secretary Rubio make the legal case against the U.S. strike even stronger," he said.