President Donald Trump is celebrating the death of three unidentified “narcoterrorists.”
In a post made to Truth Social on Friday night, the president announced that he ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to launch an attack on a vessel traveling a “known narcotrafficking passage en route to poison Americans.” The boat was traveling the Caribbean Sea.
The post reads, “On my Orders, the Secretary of War ordered a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization conducting narcotrafficking in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics, and was transiting along a known narcotrafficking passage enroute to poison Americans,” it continued.
“The strike killed 3 male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel, which was in international waters. No U.S. Forces were harmed in this strike.” The strike announced on Monday also killed 3 people, per the president’s announcement at the time.
Trump ended the post with a message in all-caps, writing, “STOP SELLING FENTANYL, NARCOTICS, AND ILLEGAL DRUGS IN AMERICA, AND COMMITTING VIOLENCE AND TERRORISM AGAINST AMERICANS!!!”
The attached video claims to be footage of the alleged strike, showing a boat being struck from the air as it’s traveling through the water. The boat is then shown on fire, now stationary.
The video is similar to one posted in early September, which was later determined to be AI-generated. There is no evidence that the latest video is also AI.
No further details—including who exactly was killed, which country they were from, where they were traveling to, or how the administration was able to confirm the presence of narcotics onboard—were made available. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
When asked on Monday for evidence that the boat targeted by the administration earlier this week was indeed transporting narcotics, Trump said, “We have proof. All you have to do is look at the cargo that was spattered all over the ocean, big bags of cocaine and fentanyl all over the place.”
Other members of the administration have asserted that the U.S. has a right to conduct extrajudicial air strikes in international waters, even in the face of growing concern from legal experts.
Hegseth has asserted that the United States has the right to kill suspected drug smugglers in international waters without trial. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Hegseth, rebranded as the Secretary of War by Trump, told reporters that the U.S. has “absolute and complete authority” to kill suspected drug smugglers, citing the “defense of the American people.”
Reports indicate that Hegseth’s own military lawyers warned the administration that their strikes were potentially illegal, and retired Lt Col. Rachel E. VanLandingham told CNN that the strikes were “deeply troubling.”
“The lack of transparency by the administration when they’re using lethal force in the American people’s name, in a very unique manner, is deeply troubling,” she said.
Democratic Senator Jack Reed, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said of the first strike earlier this month, “There is no evidence—none—that this strike was conducted in self-defense.”
“That matters, because under both domestic and international law, the U.S. military simply does not have the authority to use lethal force against a civilian vessel unless acting in self-defense.”
Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, told critics of the administration’s conduct that he didn’t “give a s–t”, later doubling down with a joke at a rally in Michigan.
Jessica Koscielniak/REUTERS
Recalling a conversation with Hegseth, who noted that there were no more drug boats entering U.S. waters, Vance said with a grin, “I said, ‘I know why!’ I would stop too.”
Laughing, he added, “Hell, I wouldn’t go fishing right now in that area of the world.”