Trump Boat Bombings Suddenly on Shakier Ground as Damning Info Emerges

First, Smith says the committee is in communication with Frank “Mitch” Bradley, the commander who oversaw the bombing, about getting a possible classified briefing. Bradley appears to have been instrumental: As The Washington Post reports, on September 2, after the bombing of a boat carrying 11 people wrecked the vessel, live drone footage showed two men still alive. Bradley ordered a second strike, and as the Post put it, “the two men were blown apart in the water.”

“Why was the second strike ordered?” Smith asked in our interview. Rogers, the GOP committee chair, appears to be on board for getting this briefing, and Bradley will likely talk to the four leaders of the two Armed Services committees, Smith says. He will try to pin down Bradley on the rationale for the second strike.

That’s critical. Because that second hit, per the Post, was executed to fulfill Hegseth’s spoken order that everybody on the boat must be killed. Legal experts are describing that as a potential war crime, because killing defenseless foes violates international laws of war. Indeed, Jack Goldsmith, former head of the Office of Legal Counsel, argues in a careful analysis that if the Post report is true, Hegseth’s order might have been an illegal one.