‘This is War’: Trump Dodges on Whether Hegseth Should Be Punished If He Ordered Survivors Killed

President Donald Trump refused to answer on Wednesday in the Oval Office if he believes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or anyone else in the chain of command should be punished if found to have ordered the killing of survivors from a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat. Hegseth is under fire in a growing scandal, which is soon to include Congressional investigations into whether or not he committed what critics are calling a war crime.

Trump was asked during a Q&A, “If survivors were actually killed while clinging on to that boat. Should Secretary Hegseth, Admiral Bradley, or others be punished?”

“I think you’re going to find that this is war, that these people were killing our people by the millions—actually, if you look over a few years. I think last year we lost close to 300,000 people who were killed,” Trump replied, adding:

That’s not mentioning all the families. Have you seen what happens with the families of not only the people killed, but the people that are trying to get their son or their daughter off of this poison that they’ve been fed?

I think you’re going to find that there’s a very receptive ear to doing exactly what they’re doing—taking out those boats. And very soon we’re going to start doing it on land too, because we know every route, we know every house, we know where they manufacture this crap, we know where they put it all together, and I think you’re going to see it very soon on land also. Yeah, please.

“So to be clear, do you support the decision to kill survivors after the—” followed up the reporter.

“I know I support the decision to knock out the boats and whoever is piloting those boats. Most of them are gone. But whoever are piloting those boats, they’re guilty of trying to kill people in our country,” Trump said before moving on.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.