Adam Schiff challenges Pentagon to release tapes of deadly Caribbean drug boat strikes

WASHINGTON, DC: Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has demanded that the Pentagon publicly release the full video footage of controversial military strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean. Critics, including several lawmakers, argue the follow-up strike may have amounted to unlawful killings, especially since the survivors were reportedly unarmed at the time.

Adam Schiff calls Caribbean boat strike unlawful

Appearing at NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday, December 7, moderator Kristen Welker asked Schiff whether he believes the Trump administration’s September 2 strike, which killed survivors of an initial strike on the boat, was legal.

The question followed remarks by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who earlier said it was “entirely appropriate to strike the boat again to make sure its cargo was destroyed.” Cotton added that the action was “in no way a violation of the law of war.”

Speaking to Welker, Schiff called the strikes “unlawful” and “unconstitutional.”

“Killing two people who are shipwrecked at sea is also morally repugnant,” he said. “I agree with Tom that we should do everything lawfully possible to stop the scourge of drugs coming into this country. But this is not lawful or constitutional.”

He added, “If the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are proud of what they’re doing, they should let the American people see that video. Let the American people see two people standing or sitting on a capsized boat being deliberately killed, and decide for themselves whether they’re proud of what their country is doing. I can’t imagine people would be proud of that.”

Adam Schiff cites law of war on shipwrecked killings

Schiff explained, “The manual on the law of war makes it explicit that killing people who are shipwrecked is illegal, a violation of law.”

He criticized Cotton’s statement that it did not matter what the people were doing on the capsized boat. “These boats are not invading the United States in an armed assault. They’re thousands of miles away. Some, maybe even this vessel, if reports are accurate, weren’t even heading to the United States,” Schiff said.

“For us to engage in this kind of unauthorized campaign of extrajudicial killing couldn’t be a clearer violation of the law,” he added. Schiff emphasized that even if the Trump administration lists organizations as terrorist or narco-terrorist groups, it does not grant a president the legal authority to kill them at sea.

He concluded, “We need a thorough investigation to determine what the orders were for these strikes, whether they targeted everyone in an organization without knowing who they were or what the situation was.”

Pentagon and Donald Trump respond to calls for transparency 

On Saturday, December 6, Hegseth refused to say whether the Pentagon would release footage of the strikes. “We’re reviewing it right now to protect sources and methods. It’s an ongoing operation, so any release would have to be responsible,” he said during an interview at the 2025 Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi, California.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday, December 3, that his administration would “certainly release” footage following reports alleging orders to kill two survivors. “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem,” Trump said in the Oval Office.