President Donald Trump said Wednesday he would release whatever video footage the administration has of the Sept. 2 strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea that killed two survivors.
When pressed by ABC News in the Oval Office with specific questions about accountability and the attack, Trump said “this is war,” although Congress has not authorized war and the initial strike is still being scrutinized.
PHOTO: President Trump announced on his social media platform that he ordered U.S. military forces to conduct “a kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
“Will you release video of that strike — so that the American people can see for themselves?” ABC Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang asked, noting he had posted video of the first strike shortly after it happened.
“I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release no problem,” he responded.
President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Oval Office, at the White House, in Washington, December 3, 2025.
Will Oliver/EPA/Shutterstock
When Wang questioned whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or Adm. Mitch Bradley, who Hegseth says ordered the second strike, should face consequences, Trump avoided answering directly.
“Mr. President, if it is found that survivors were actually killed while clinging on to that boat, should Secretary Hegseth, Admiral Bradley or others be punished?” she asked.
“I think you’re going to find that this is war, that these people were killing our people by the millions, actually, if you look over a few years,” Trump said. “I think last year we lost close to 300,000 people were killed. That’s not mentioning all the families.”
He continued, “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. And very soon we’re going to start doing it on land, too, because we know every route, we know every house, we know where they manufactured this crap, we know where they put it all together. And I think you’re going to see it very soon on land, also.”
“So, to be clear, you support the decision to kill survivors after the initial strike?” Wang followed up.
“No,” Trump said. “I support the decision to knock out the boats. And whoever is piloting those boats, most of them are gone, but whoever are piloting those boats, they’re guilty of trying to kill people in our country.”
Trump saying he agreed to the release of the video came on the eve of Bradley headed to Capitol Hill Thursday to face questions behind closed doors from lawmakers, including some top Republicans who have said they wanted to see the video evidence of what happened.
A screen grab from a video posted to social media by President Donald Trump, Sept. 15, 2025, of what he said was a U.S. military strike on a boat allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela.
Donald J. Trump/Truth Social
Some Democrats and legal experts have suggested that the killing of survivors could be a war crime.
ABC News on Wednesday reported new details about the second strike, with a source familiar with the incident saying the survivors were deemed “still in the fight” and considered valid targets because they had climbed back onto the boat, were believed to be potentially in communication with others in the vicinity and were salvaging some of the drugs that had been the boat’s cargo.