GOP turns on Pete Hegseth with plans to join Dem investigation into ‘kill everybody’ allegations

The September 2 attack was the first of more than a dozen strikes against boats in the Caribbean, which the Pentagon has claimed without evidence are carrying drugs.

A bipartisan duo of senators on Saturday announced they will investigate allegations that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered military personnel to “kill everybody” aboard a vessel in the Caribbean he claimed was carrying narcotics, a directive that some experts have described as a war crime or act of murder.

Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Democratic Sen. Jack Reed said in a joint statement that they would spearhead an investigation into the Pentagon over the alleged order, which The Washington Post reported occurred on Sept. 2. The statement comes after the Pentagon under Hegseth has killed more than 80 people aboard at least 23 boats, despite largely refusing to provide Congress with evidence linking the boats to drug-trafficking networks or proof that there were drugs onboard.

“The Committee is aware of recent news reports and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” the statement read. “The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to these circumstances.”

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A report from The Washington Post this week alleged that Hegseth directed defense officials to “kill everybody” aboard the vessel after the first missile strike appeared to leave two survivors clinging onto the wreckage. A Special Operations commander ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s order, and the two men were “blown apart in the water,” according to the report.

The Sept. 2 attack was the first of more than a dozen attacks against boats, which the Pentagon claimed, without evidence, are carrying drugs. The Mirror U.S. contacted the Department of Defense for additional information.

Hegseth, in response to the Post’s reporting, described the story as “more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting.”

“As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal, kinetic strikes,” he wrote on social media.

Beginning in early September, President Donald Trump and Hegseth claimed that drug-smuggling narco-terrorists were attempting to enter American territory with enough narcotics to “kill 25 to 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE,” alleged acts of terror that Hegseth compared to the 9/11 attacks. Trump has attempted to justify the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

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The president has asserted the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, relying on the same legal authority used by the Bush administration when it declared a war on terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. But as the number of strikes has grown, a debate in Congress has escalated over the limits of the president’s power.

The attacks have occurred without any legal investigation or a traditional declaration of war from Congress, and some lawmakers have raised questions about the lack of hard evidence to justify the killings, according to The Associated Press. Rep. Adam Smith last month called for the White House to brief Congress on the matter, saying that he had “never seen such a staggering lack of transparency.”

Trump bluntly told a White House reporter in late October that he would continue circumventing Congress by fatally striking boats in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, saying, “we’re just gonna kill people.” His statement came after he had expressed frustration with the Nobel Committee for snubbing his alleged peacemaking efforts and refusing to award him a Peace Prize.

“Mr. President, if you are declaring war against these cartels and Congress is likely to approve of that process, why not just ask for a declaration of war?” a reporter asked the president in the wake of the military’s ninth strike against a vessel allegedly carrying drugs. “I don’t think we’re gonna necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” Trump replied.

“I think we’re just gonna kill people. Okay? We’re gonna kill them. They’re gonna be, like, dead,” he added. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer posted on social media in response to The Post’s report, calling for Hegseth to release more information about the strikes.

“Then release the full, unedited tapes of the strikes so the American people can see for themselves,” he wrote on X. “Your recklessness demands full transparency and strict congressional oversight… We will hold you accountable.”

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