President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US military carried out a strike on an alleged “Venezuelan drug cartel vessel” that had been on its way to the United States.
He said three men were killed in the strike, adding that it occurred in international waters.
"This morning, on my orders, US military forces conducted a second kinetic strike against positively identified, extraordinarily violent drug trafficking cartels and narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
"These extremely violent drug trafficking cartels POSE A THREAT to US National Security, Foreign Policy, and vital US interests," Trump said.
A video of the strike posted by Trump appears to depict a boat floating listlessly with at least two people on board. The video quickly cuts to another angle in which the strike rapidly takes place, and the boat erupts into a fireball before being consumed in an inferno.
The initial strike has prompted questions over their legality, including from members of Trump's own party.
Citing the vice president’s shrugging off the possible illegality of the first attack, Sen. Rand Paul said on American social media platform X on Sept. 6: "JD ‘I don’t give a ****’ Vance says killing people he accuses of a crime is the 'highest and best use of the military'."
"Did he ever wonder what might happen if the accused were immediately executed without trial or representation?? What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial," Paul added.
