Only some US lawmakers to see full video of controversial boat strike, Hegseth says

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said a group of US lawmakers will be shown the full, unedited video of a controversial September boat strike in the Caribbean.

Hegseth told reporters after a classified briefing for senators on Tuesday that the appropriate congressional committees would be allowed to see it, but the general public would not.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also attended the briefing on the Trump administration's air strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats and other military actions in the Caribbean Sea.

After the briefing, most Republicans said they wanted the White House to keep up its efforts, while Democrats raised questions on the legality of the strikes.

At least 90 people have been killed in the attacks. Just hours before the Capitol Hill briefing, the US military announced that eight people had been killed in its latest strikes, which targeted three boats in the Pacific Ocean.

Hegseth said members of the House and Senate's armed services committees would see the unedited video of the 2 September incident on Wednesday.

He added that the footage would be shared with "appropriate" committees, but did not say whether all lawmakers would be allowed to review it.

"In keeping with longstanding Department of War policy - Department of Defence policy - of course we're not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public," Hegseth said.

After reports surfaced earlier this month that two survivors of the initial strike on 2 September were still clinging to the burning boat when they were killed by a second strike, lawmakers from both parties demanded answers from the administration.

The Trump administration has cast its operations in the Caribbean as a non-international armed conflict with the alleged drug traffickers.

The rules of engagement in such armed conflicts - as set out in the Geneva Conventions - forbid the targeting of wounded participants, saying that those participants should instead be apprehended and cared for.

Earlier this month, the man in charge of the mission, Admiral Frank Bradley, appeared before lawmakers to provide more details on what had happened and to clarify that Hegseth had not given an order, as was then being reported, to "kill them all".

Many Democrats, though, said they were troubled by what they had learned and called for further investigation, while some said the full video should be released publicly.

While Trump at first said he had "no problem" with releasing the footage publicly, he later said the decision rested with Hegseth.

A defence spending bill passed by the House of Representatives last week would require the Pentagon to give the armed services committees full unedited videos of strikes against designated terrorist organisations in what is known as the Southern Command, the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Senate is currently considering the bill.

Adm Bradley is also expected to brief the armed services committees on Wednesday.

Since beginning the strikes in September, the defence department has announced on social media when it has carried out what it says is a strike against terrorists attempting to bring deadly and illegal drugs - mostly fentanyl - to the US by boat.

The posts often include grainy video clips, but no evidence of the alleged drug trafficking, and few details on who or what was on board each vessel.

Rubio on Tuesday told reporters that he and Hegseth had offered lawmakers updates on the “counter-drug mission” that is “killing Americans, poisoning Americans”.

“This has been a highly successful mission that’s ongoing and continued,” America’s top diplomat said, adding that they would also brief House lawmakers later in the day.

Frustration over the administration's decision to not show the 2 September video to all lawmakers has been expressed by members of both parties.

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican, said it was important for members to see the footage so they could discern whether the operation was lawful. He also suggested a transcript of the video could be helpful to better understand the “decision-making process”.

The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, asked: “If they can’t be transparent on this, how can we trust their transparency on other issues?"

California Senator Adam Schiff, also a Democrat, said he would make a request on the Senate floor to unanimously release video of the boat strike to the full Congress.

Venezuela has condemned the repeat attacks. President Nicolás Maduro has accused the US of stoking tensions in the region, with the aim of toppling the government.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab told the BBC Trump's allegations stem from "great envy" for the country's natural resources.

Some members of Trump's Republican Party gave their own views on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

Florida Senator Rick Scott said the White House was committed to doing “whatever it takes” to stop the drugs coming into the US. “[Maduro] should be in prison, or get the hell out of Venezuela,” Scott said.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, another Republican, went a step further.

"Every indication by President Trump is that the purpose of this operation is to shut down the Maduro regime and replace it with something less threatening to the United States,“ he said.

"We've blown up 25 boats for what purpose? Why are we killing all these people? To protect America. And if Maduro is what they say he is - and I believe them - he needs to go."