Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., on Friday said he expected video footage of the Sept. 2 military strike at the center of controversy over whether the U.S. killed noncombatants in the Caribbean to eventually be released. Speaking during a gathering of the Defense Writers Group, Warner, who as a member of congressional and intelligence leadership known as the Gang of Eight was able to view the entirety of the footage from that day, said the Trump administration should release the unedited video to the public or, at the very least, to all members of Congress. According to reporting from The Washington Post, the video shows multiple U.S. military strikes on a boat alleged to be carrying drugs near Trinidad. After an initial strike killed nine on board but left two survivors clinging to the wreckage, the military allegedly carried out additional missile strikes to kill them and sink any remaining drugs. The White House has confirmed that a second strike was carried out, but both it and the Defense Department denied that the order to do so was given by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who is reported to have authorized the lethal engagement. Instead, the Trump administration has said that it was Special Operations Command chief Adm. Frank Bradley who gave that order, which was intended to destroy the boat wreckage and any cocaine that may have been concealed underneath it, according to The Washington Post's account of Bradley's closed-door explanation to members of Congress. Bradley and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine briefed congressional leaders together earlier this month. Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe have also briefed lawmakers on the ongoing strikes. Warner said that he saw no reason for the Trump administration to withhold the footage and dismissed Hegseth’s claims that doing so could compromise sensitive information related to military or intelligence operations. "At least show the video of, once you got the survivors visible, what they're doing, what their actions are, and the strike taking place. And, don't slow-walk this until Congress gets out," Warner said. Warner added that when he was briefed on the strike, no Republicans in the room with him spoke up in support of Hegseth’s claim that there was risk in releasing the video. Hegseth said during a Dec. 6 appearance at the Reagan National Defense Forum that the issue of releasing video of the second strike was under review. "The most important thing to me are the ongoing operations in the Caribbean with our folks that use bespoke capabilities, techniques, procedures in the process," Hegseth said. "I'm way more interested in protecting that than anything else." Following Warner’s comments, he and all fellow Democrats on the Gang of Eight — Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes, D-Conn. — released a letter they wrote to Hegseth calling on him to release the video before Congress adjourns for the Christmas break. “As some of the few members of Congress who have seen the complete, unedited video of the strikes on September 2 against a maritime vessel, we write to stress our grave concerns surrounding their circumstances. As we have expressed directly to you, Secretary Rubio, General Caine, and Admiral Bradley, it is critical that you provide full transparency to Congress and to the American people,” they wrote.
