Pete Hegseth rules out public access to 'unedited' September boat strike footage, citing secrecy
Hegseth on the second Sept 2 strike: "Of course we're not going to release a top secret full unedited of that to the general public" pic.twitter.com/uRHOz2E14y
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 16, 2025
WASHINGTON, DC: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shot down the possibility of videos of the September boat strikes being released to the public on Tuesday, December 16.
Hegseth said that to honor the long-standing Department of War and Department of Defense policies, they were not going to release a “top secret, full unedited video” of the strikes to the general public.
“Appropriate committees will see it but not the general public,” he added.
Hegseth’s claims were backed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as the two spoke to the reporters while attending a bipartisan classified Senate hearing on the strikes.
The full boat strike video will be shown to the committees
While speaking to reporters, Pete Hegseth referred to the US Military boat strike in September as a “highly successful mission” that countered “designated t*****ist organizations,” and c**tels bringing weapons into America.
He added that the Trump administration was “proud” of what they were doing and said that he would explain the same to the senators, but told reporters he couldn’t relay much information to them since it was “highly classified.”
Hegseth added that they were also going to allow the House of Armed Services Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee to see the “unedited video” of the attack carried out on September 2, along with Admiral Bradley.
He praised Bradley for doing a “fantastic job” and making “all the right calls.”
Marco Rubio chimes in on the boat strike
Marco Rubio told the reporters on Tuesday, alongside Pete Hegseth, that they will continue to engage with Congress about the boat strikes and provide updates on the same.
Rubio added that their focus was to continue dismantling the infrastructure of organizations that were operating in the American hemisphere, and undermining the security of Americans.
He further claimed that it was a successful ongoing mission, and they were pleased to be able to give Congress updates on the same.
On September 2, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was allegedly involved in the military boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea, carrying 11 people. Hegseth stated that the people on the boat were on an internal list of “n***o-t****ists” who could be “lethally targeted.”
