Trump says he’d support release of video of second strike on alleged drug vessel

By Donald Judd, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration would “certainly” release video of a follow-up strike on an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean after the initial attack did not kill everyone on board.

“I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “You know, we stopped — every boat we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives.”

Trump posted video of the initial strike shortly after the September 2 operation to his Truth Social platform.

Pressed in a follow-up exchange about whether he supported the decision to kill survivors in a second strike, Trump said, “No, I support the decision to knock out the boats, and whoever is piloting those boats. Most of them are gone, but whoever’s piloting those boats, they’re guilty of trying to kill people in our country.”

And Trump dismissed questions about whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley, who the administration said ordered the second strike, should be punished if survivors were clinging to the boat.

“I think you’re going to find that this is war, that these people were killing our people by the millions,” Trump said.

“I think you’re going to find that there’s a very receptive ear to doing exactly what they’re doing, taking out those boats,” Trump said. “And very soon, we’re going to start doing it on land too.”

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