Joe Scarborough Guts Hegseth’s ‘Fog of War’ Boat Strike Claim with Fox Clip from ‘Morning After’: ‘You Knew Everything About It!’

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough trashed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for blaming the “fog of war” for a “double tap” strike on a suspected narco-trafficking boat on September 2 by searingly quoting his own words back at him – rolling back a clip from Fox & Friends the “morning after.”

Hegseth’s remarks came on Tuesday during a cabinet meeting when NBC News senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez pressed him and President Donald Trump over the controversial attack on the alleged drug-smuggling boat that reportedly killed two survivors of the initial strike.

The second assault has triggered a political firestorm in Washington, with critics branding it a potential war crime and demanding clarity on what Hegseth knew and when he issued the order.

“I did not personally see survivors, but I stand — because the thing was on fire. It was exploded and fire and smoke. You can’t see anything. You got digital. This is called the fog of war. This is what you and the press don’t understand,” Hegseth fumed during a lengthy reply.

On Wednesday’s Morning Joe, however, after showing Hegseth’s comments at the cabinet meeting, Scarborough refused to buy in and ripped the defense secretary’s excuse, addressing him directly down camera:

Yeah. You know, but you weren’t talking about the fog of war the morning after this happened. And that happened on September 2nd. Then on September 3rd, there was no fog of war. You were in complete command. You were in complete charge. You knew exactly who was on that boat. You knew exactly when that boat was fired upon.

You knew everything, Mr. Secretary, about what happened that day. It wasn’t like ‘oh there’s a fog of war! Oh, were people hanging on? And did I commit war crimes? I’m not sure!’

The host then had producers roll back a clip from a Fox & Friends interview with Hegseth: “This is what you said the morning after the strike.”

In the September 3 Fox & Friends video Hegseth admitted that he “watched it live” and that his team knew “exactly who was on that boat” and that they were part of a “narco-terrorist” cartel organization.

When the clip finished, Scarborough rounded again:

So since he knew exactly what was going on, he will know, as the Washington Post reported, the boat was not hit once. It was not hit twice, it was not hit three times. It was hit four times, when he knew exactly according to his own words the day after the event, what happened that day off the coast of Venezuela.

Two of those strikes, I’m sure the secretary of defense knows about were to kill the crew and twice more to sink the boat, according to four people familiar with the operation. So again, as usual, every day he comes out and every day he says something that is more in conflict with what he said the day before.

Co-host Mika Brzezinski then attempted to continue MS NOW coverage by noting that congressional probes were now underway, Scarborough came back for more: “Wait, so the second, third and fourth strike… You’re telling your friends on Fox & Friends. It’s why they call it Fox & Friends –”

“They love Pete,” Brzezinski jabbed.

Scarborough went on: “Tell your friends on Fox & Friends you know exactly what was going, you know exactly who was on board, you knew exactly about the time!”

Mocking Hegseth, he continued: “You were there. You were the man. OK, man, you were there.”

He added: “You admitted you knew everything about four strikes. Are you telling me there was a first strike and you said, ‘I’m going to go up to my office and play Parchisi? I’m bored with this.’ No! You stayed there for the four strikes. You know you did. So now you’re saying, ‘Oh, fog of war! Why – no – I don’t – one strike, four strikes. It’s a fog!’

“No, you told everybody. You told America the morning after the attack. You knew everything about it. You were there. You saw it yourself,” he concluded.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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