The Latest: Navy admiral who ordered attack that killed boat strike survivors briefs lawmakers

A Navy admiral told lawmakers Thursday that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but grave questions and concerns remain as Congress scrutinizes an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela.

Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley “was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing.

While Cotton, R-Ark., defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned the Trump administration’s rationale and said the boat strike was deeply concerning.

“The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Smith, who is demanding further investigation, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water.”

Lawmakers want a full accounting after The Washington Post reported that Bradley on Sept. 2 ordered an attack on the survivors to comply with a directive from Hegseth to “kill everybody.” Legal experts say the attack amounts to a crime if the survivors were targeted.

Here's the latest:

Group sues US government for information on boat strikes

American Oversight said Thursday that it filed its lawsuit in federal court in Washington, D.C., because the Defense Department and Justice Department failed to provide records sought under the Freedom of Information Act.

“According to experts, if survivors of the initial strike were killed as reported, such conduct could amount to a war crime,” a copy of the lawsuit released by the nonprofit watchdog stated.

Judge hears arguments about the legitimacy of a top Trump administration prosecutor

New York Attorney General Letitia James is challenging the authority of an acting U.S. attorney in Albany who is investigating her.

Her lawyers argue John Sarcone’s appointment was improper, making subpoenas he issued invalid.

A court hearing Thursday centered on Sarcone’s role in investigating cases against Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association.

James’ attorney Hailyn Chen argued that the subpoenas are invalid due to the improper way Sarcone was placed in the position by U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. In response to a question from U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield, Chen said Sarcone should be disqualified from the investigation and the office.

Justice Department lawyers say Sarcone was appointed properly and the subpoenas should stand. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Belliss argued that disqualifying Sarcone would be “drastic and extreme.”

Schofield did not say when she would rule.

Trump says US is ready to invest in Congo and Rwanda’s rare earths industry

Trump said the United States was signing bilateral agreements with the Congo and Rwanda that will unlock new opportunities for the United States to access critical minerals. The deals will benefit all three nations’ economies.

“And we’ll be involved with sending some of our biggest and greatest U.S. companies over to the two countries,” Trump said. He added, “Everybody’s going to make a lot of money.”

The region, rich in critical minerals, has been of interest to Trump as Washington looks for ways to circumvent China to acquire rare earths, essential to manufacturing fighter jets, cellphones and more. China accounts for nearly 70% of the world’s rare earth mining and controls roughly 90% of global rare earths processing.

Mexico’s president says she will meet with Trump Friday in Washington

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she planned to discuss trade and the remaining tariffs on imports from Mexico with Trump on the sidelines of the draw for the 2026 World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

The Mexican leader said she would also meet with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The three countries are co-hosting next summer’s soccer tournament.

“Everything appears to indicate that we are going to have a small meeting” with Trump, Sheinbaum said during her daily press briefing Thursday. She had announced Wednesday that she would be attending the event.

It will Sheinbaum’s first face-to-face meeting with Trump. She said she wants to advance negotiations over tariffs on automobiles, steel and aluminum. among other things.

Top Democrat on Senate Armed Services panel calls for Pentagon to release boat attack video

The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services panel is calling on the Pentagon to release video of a U.S. attack that killed two survivors of a strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters earlier this year.

Reed and the other leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services and intelligence panels viewed the video at classified briefings by top national security officials in the Capitol on Thursday. He said afterward that the Pentagon should release the video and also the legal opinion authorizing the strike in waters near Venezuela.

“The video will I think answer all of the questions that are floating around and the legal opinion will provide the justification for the general operation,” Reed said.

Republicans and Democrats have vowed to investigate the incident. Reed said the video was disturbing but declined to provide any additional details.

Top Democrat says boat strike video ‘deeply, deeply concerning’

Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said even without a direct verbal command from Hegseth or anyone else to “kill them all” the order for the mission was to kill those on board.

“Admiral Bradley was very clear that he did not say ‘kill them all.’ However, there were 11 people on that boat, and the order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” Smith told the AP.

He described the video showing “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”

US prioritizes visas for fans traveling for the World Cup, Olympics and other events

The Trump administration has instructed U.S. embassies and consulates around the world to prioritize visa applications from foreigners wishing to visit the United States to either invest in America or attend the 2026 World Cup, 2028 Olympics and other major sporting events.

The administration also has added new criteria for highly skilled foreign workers seeking a particular visa.

The new rules would deny entry to applicants deemed to have directed or participated in the censorship of American citizens on social media through content moderation initiatives that have sprung up throughout Europe and elsewhere to combat extremist speech.

The steps were outlined in cables sent this week to all U.S. diplomatic missions and obtained by The Associated Press.

Leaders praise Trump for getting involved in Congo-Rwanda conflict

“No one was asking President Trump to take up this task. Our region is far from the headlines,” said Rwandan President Paul Kagame at the signing ceremony. “But when the president saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, he immediately took it.”

‘This was our own internal work at the FBI’

Dan Bongino, the deputy director of the FBI, said authorities identified Brian Cole Jr. as a suspect in the Washington, D.C., pipe bomb case based on the FBI’s investigation.

“This was not a new public tip that this came from,” Bongino said. “This was our own internal work at the FBI.”

Brian Cole has been charged with use of an explosive device.

“We were going to track this person to the end of the earth. There was no way he was getting away,” Bongino said.

No attorney information was yet available and attempts to reach family and a cellphone listed as Cole’s were not answered.

Trump shouts out FIFA chief ahead of World Cup draw at ‘Trump Kennedy Center’

The long-running bromance between the U.S. president and Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, is still going strong. Trump nodded to Infantino at the DRC-Rwanda peace deal signing, calling him a “great leader in sports and a great gentleman.”

Infantino is in town ahead of the World Cup draw on Friday. The event is being held at the Kennedy Center, or the “Trump Kennedy Center,” as the president called it.

“Oh, excuse me — at the Kennedy Center,” Trump jokingly corrected himself. “Pardon me, such a terrible mistake.”

Trump also said ticket sales for next year’s World Cup, which the U.S. is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, have broken records.

“I can report to you that we have sold more tickets than any country, anywhere in the world at this stage of the game,” he said.

FIFA said late last month that nearly two million tickets had been purchased during two phases of ticket sales. The third phase begins Dec. 11.

Patel says Trump administrations FBI and DoJ brought new attention to pipe bomb case

FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau and Department of Justice brought in a new team of investigators and experts to sift through existing evidence and chase down leads. He said that was, “Something the prior administration failed to do.”

Patel went on to call the arrest “flawless,” saying no officers were hurt taking down what he characterized as a dangerous suspect.

“We solved it. He will have his day in court,” Patel said.

Trump praises leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda for their courage

Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of Congo and Paul Kagame of Rwanda are signing a deal aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Congo and opening access to the region’s critical minerals.

Tshisekedi offered a hopeful message about the precarious peace.

“I do believe this day is the beginning of a new path, a demanding path, yes. Indeed, quite difficult,” Tshisekedi said. “But this is a path where peace will not just be a wish, an aspiration, but a turning point.”

Suspect accused of planting pipe bombs before Jan. 6 attack on Capitol charged with explosives offense

Attorney General Pam Bondi says a man named Brian Coles Jr. was arrested Thursday in with the Jan. 5, 2021, pipe bombs left outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Cole is charged with use of an explosive device, Bondi said during a news conference. She said the investigation is still underway, and more charges could be filed in the future.

“As we speak, search warrants are being executed,” Bondi said.

The Institute of Peace was renamed after Trump. He seemed to like that

Trump celebrated a peace agreement between the leaders of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda on Thursday by praising the building hosting the event.

“It’s a spectacular building and we all appreciate it,” Trump said. His administration is involved in a court battle over the think tank.

The State Department on Wednesday said that it renamed it as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.

“Thank you for putting a certain name on that,” Trump said to Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the event. “That blew up last night.”

White House is expected to soon submit plans for new ballroom to planning commission

The White House is expected to submit plans for its new ballroom to a planning commission later this month, the Trump-appointed head of the panel said Thursday.

“Once plans are submitted, that’s really when the role of this commission, and its professional staff, will begin,” Will Scharf, the chair of the National Capital Planning Commission, said.

Agents search Virginia bail bonds office tied to suspect in pipe bomb case

In Fairfax, Virginia, federal agents gathered outside an office marked “Brian Cole Bail Bonds,” its entrance wrapped in yellow crime-scene tape that flicked in the afternoon wind.

A man in an FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force jacket stood near the entrance, conferring with local officers who were guarding the building.

The business shares the suspect’s name. In public records, it appears to be associated with members of his family, though authorities have not detailed the connection.

Republican and Democratic committee leaders share differing takeaways on Hegseth’s use of Signal

The Republican and Democratic leaders on the Senate Armed Services Committee offered diverging takeaways from the Pentagon inspector general report on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to share sensitive information.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chair, said in a statement that Hegseth “acted within his authority to communicate the information in question to other cabinet level officials.”

But Wicker said that senior leaders also need more tools to share classified information “in real time and a variety of environments.”

Sen. Jack Reed of Oregon, the committee’s ranking Democrat, said Hegseth violated military regulations and showed “reckless disregard for the safety American servicemembers.”

Reed said in his statement that anyone else would have faced “severe consequences, including potential prosecution.”

Carney will hold a brief meeting with Trump on Friday

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to have a brief meeting with Trump while at the Kennedy Center in Washington for the World Cup draw Friday.

Carney’s spokesperson Audrey Champoux says Carney will also have a brief meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

The United States, Canada and Mexico are hosting the 64-nation World Cup next year.

Navy admiral says there was no ‘kill all’ order in attack that killed drug boat survivors

A Navy admiral has told lawmakers that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

That disclosure Thursday comes as Congress scrutinizes an attack that killed two survivors of an initial strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters near Venezuela.

Sen. Tom Cotton told reporters about what he heard from Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley in classified briefing and Cotton is defending the attack. But a Democratic lawmaker who was also briefed says he’s deeply concerned by video of the second strike

Hegseth sharing sensitive military plans on his personal phone put troops at risk, watchdog finds

The Pentagon inspector general’s report released Thursday criticized the use of unapproved messaging apps and devices across the department.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had the authority to declassify the material he shared with others in a Signal chat, the watchdog found. But it also says the release of details about the strike on Houthi militants in Yemen violated internal Pentagon rules about handling sensitive information that could put service members or their missions in danger.

The report noted that the information that Hegseth sent — the quantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory about two hours to four hours before those strikes — “created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots.”

Hegseth wrote on social media: “No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed. Houthis bombed into submission.”

Rep. Nancy Mace says she has ‘no interest’ in leaving Congress early

The South Carolina Republican told reporters during a virtual news conference on Thursday that she’s going to finish her term but is “100%” frustrated with the slow pace of the House.

Mace was asked about reporting by The New York Times that she is looking to meet with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to discuss following the lead of the Georgia Republican, who has announced she’s leaving Congress in January.

Mace said she’s expressed her frustrations to House Speaker Mike Johnson, whom she supports and said she expects to outlast recent criticism of his management of the House.

Mace, first elected in 2020, is seeking the GOP nomination for South Carolina governor in next year’s elections and is not expected to run for another House term.

Protesters in New Orleans forcefully removed from City Council meeting

Protesters held signs that read “No Collaboration with ICE/DHS” and begged city leaders to create “ICE-Free zones” during a City Council meeting Thursday. It was the second day of a federal immigration enforcement operation in the city.

After public comment was suspended, and protesters refused to yield their time at the podium, City Council members paused the meeting and left the room.

As protesters chanted “Shame,” city police officers ordered them to leave the building. While some protesters complied, multiple others were pushed or physically carried out by officers.

Trump administration blasts ‘procedural gamesmanship’ in Chicago immigration case

Trump administration lawyers on Thursday accused plaintiffs of “throwing in the towel” with “procedural gamesmanship” after they moved to dismiss their lawsuit over the aggressive tactics of federal immigration officers in the Chicago area.

The coalition of protesters and journalists behind the suit called the dismissal a victory, saying the Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz” had largely wound down. But the case was on its way to a skeptical appeals court that had already frozen an order limiting agents’ use of force.

“The moment they have to explain themselves to an appellate court, they run for the hills,” said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Democrats unveil a three-year extension of enhanced ACA tax credits

Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer says a bill Democrats will bring to the Senate floor for a vote next week would allow for a three-year extension of enhanced health insurance subsidies set to expire at the end of this year.

Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune promised Democrats a vote on a proposal of their choosing as part of a path forward to ending the historic, 43-day government shutdown earlier this fall.

Schumer said every Democrat will support the bill. It’s most likely to fail, though.

“Republicans have one week to decide where they stand. Vote for this bill and bring health care costs down or block this bill and send premiums skyrocketing,” Schumer said.

Trump to visit Pennsylvania to highlight efforts to curb inflation as high prices squeeze Americans

A White House official said Trump would be making the trip Tuesday to discuss ending the inflation crisis he says was inherited from his predecessor, Joe Biden. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the trip hasn’t been formally announced. It wasn’t immediately clear where in Pennsylvania Trump would be visiting.

Last month’s off-year elections showed a shift away from Republicans as public concerns about affordability persist. White House officials said afterward that Trump — who has done relatively few events domestically — would put a greater emphasis on talking directly to the public about his economic policies.

The president has said that any affordability worries are part of a Democratic “hoax” and that people simply need to hear his perspective to change their minds — an approach also embraced by Biden, who in early 2024 went to the Pennsylvania borough of Emmaus to take credit for economic improvements after inflation spiked in 2022.

— Josh Boak

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