The defense secretary supported the admiral he said called for the second strike on Sept. 2 against a boat the administration says was smuggling drugs.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that he had not noticed survivors in the water during U.S. military strikes that killed 11 people in the Caribbean in September.
His remarks, at a cabinet meeting at the White House in which he cited the “fog of war,” were the latest from Trump administration officials meant to address questions about whether the U.S. military committed a war crime when it launched a second strike on a boat on Sept. 2, killing two survivors of the initial attack who were clinging to the burning wreckage.
Mr. Hegseth had said that he watched the operation live on video before he “moved on” to his next meeting. But following news reports about the second U.S. strike, Mr. Hegseth said he “didn’t stick around” to see it.
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Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
