Navy Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley will provide a classified briefing to the senior members of the Senate and House Armed Services committees Thursday about the Trump administration’s controversial strikes on Venezuelan boats suspected of smuggling drugs.



Bradley was authorized by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to order a follow-up strike on Sept. 2 against survivors who were clinging to the wreckage of the targeted boat, an action that has triggered an uproar in Washington.





Bradley, who was head of the Joint Special Operations Command at the time of the strike, will brief the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services panels on that and other incidents, according to a source familiar with the matter.



The Washington Post reported Bradley directed a second strike during a September operation to comply with Hegseth’s order that no one be left alive.



Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday that senators are looking for more information about the incident.



“The committee of jurisdiction, the Armed Services Committee, has asked for a briefing by the appropriate administration officials, and I assume we’ll attempt to get all the facts surrounding what happened with that incident,” he said.



Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.), a member of the Armed Services panel, told reporters Tuesday that the strikes on Venezuelan vessels fall squarely within President Trump’s power as commander in chief.



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“President Trump is clearly within his Article II powers,” he said. “The fact is, they’re taking out narcoterrorist boats. That’s the truth. So to try to spin this into something else — this is just the constant churning that all the Democrats have. They don’t have a message.”





Schmitt disputed The Washington Post’s report that Hegseth ordered that no one be left alive.



“The New York Times today even debunked this bogus Washington Post story,” he said, referring to a report published in the Times on Monday citing five anonymous U.S. officials who said Hegseth ordered the Sept. 2 strike on the suspected drug boat but did not specifically order follow-up strikes to eliminate survivors.

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