Trump Supports Hegseth Amid War Crimes Report, But Concedes ‘We’ll Look Into It’

President Donald Trump offered his full support for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the weekend when pressed on Air Force One about a recent Washington Post report that Hegseth ordered a second strike to kill survivors of a first strike on an alleged drug-running boat.

“Number one, I don’t know that that happened,” Trump said when asked by a reporter for his comment on the report.

“And Pete said he did not want them — he didn’t even know what people were talking about. So, we’ll look at, we’ll look into it,” Trump added, continuing:

But no, I wouldn’t have wanted that, not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal, it was fine, and if there were two people around.

But Pete said that didn’t happen. I have great confidence in him.

“Do you think there was no second strike?” followed up the reporter.

“I don’t know, I am going to find about it,” Trump replied, adding, “But Pete said he did not order the death of those two men.”

The Republican leaders of both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees released statements over the weekend vowing investigations into Hegseth’s alleged order.

“This committee is committed to providing rigorous oversight of the Department of Defense’s military operations in the Caribbean. We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) in a statement on Saturday.

Hegseth sparked further controversy on Sunday night with a post on social media appearing to glorify his orders to kill alleged drug runners in the Caribbean. Hegseth posted to social media a mock children’s book cover with the title, Franklin Targets Narco Terrorists, with the caption, “For your Christmas wish list…”

Former Republican Congressman Justin Amash (R-MI) replied to the post and wrote, “There’s nothing Christian about war crimes.”

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