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President Donald Trump on Sunday defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth following allegations that he ordered a second strike on a Venezuelan drug boat, saying he believed Hegseth’s denial and would not have supported a follow-up attack if it had happened.
The exchange took place during a rally aboard Air Force One as reporters pressed Trump to assert that Hegseth authorized a second strike that would have killed two wounded men after an earlier attack on a ship suspected of drug trafficking.
Trump has repeatedly said Hegseth denied giving such an order. He added that he was aware of the allegation, but pointed out that Hegseth told him the claim was false and he accepted that explanation without hesitation.
“He said he didn’t say that, and I believe him 100 percent,” Trump said.
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President Donald Trump defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth amid allegations that he ordered a second strike against an alleged narcotics ship in the Caribbean on September 2, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Reporters asked Trump whether he would have approved a second strike if Hegseth had ordered one, prompting him to again distance himself from the allegations while emphasizing that he trusts his secretary of war.
Trump said he planned to seek additional information about the reported incident, but reiterated that Hegseth had assured him that nothing inappropriate had happened.
“No, I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike,” Trump said.
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Secretary of War Pete Hegseth answers a question from a reporter during a roundtable discussion on criminal cartels in the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP)
He nevertheless praised the broader campaign targeting drug trafficking boats, saying the strikes had significantly reduced the flow of narcotics to the United States by sea in recent months.
Trump argued that the ships posed a deadly threat and called the operations necessary to protect Americans, calling the missions deadly but justified.
“You can see the boats,” he said. “You can see the drugs in the boats and each boat is responsible for the deaths of 25,000 Americans.”
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Video footage showed the ship shortly before it was destroyed. (@realDonaldTrump via Truth Social)
Trump came to Hegseth’s defense after media outlets including the Washington Post and CNN claimed the U.S. military ordered a second strike on a suspected drug-smuggling ship in the Caribbean on September 2, after the previous attack left two survivors.
According to the Washington Post, the commander overseeing that operation told colleagues in a secure conference call that the survivors were legitimate targets because they could still contact other traffickers for help and ordered the second strike to comply with what he said was a directive from Hegseth that everyone be killed.
“As usual, fake news delivers even more fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland,” Hegseth wrote on X Friday.
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“As we have said from the beginning and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically intended to be ‘lethal kinetic strikes,'” Hegseth continued. “The stated intent is to stop deadly drugs, destroy narco ships, and kill the narco terrorists who are poisoning the American people. Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a designated terrorist organization.”
Greg Norman and Alexandra Koch of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
