By Patricia Zengerle and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday there are no plans to release the unedited video of September 2 strikes on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean that has fueled concerns about the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela.
“In keeping with long-standing Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course we’re not going to release a top-secret full unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters at Capitol Hill.
Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio conducted briefings on Tuesday for every member of the Senate, responding to lawmakers’ demands for more information about a 3-1/2-month-long campaign of more than 20 strikes against boats in waters off Venezuela that have killed more than 80 people.
The two cabinet secretaries were holding a similar briefing for the full House of Representatives.
Concerns about the strikes increased after it became public that the commander overseeing the operation ordered a second strike to take out two survivors on September 2.
Democrats left the Senate briefing saying it had been too short and that the officials from Republican President Donald Trump’s administration had not seemed prepared to thoroughly answer questions.
“The administration came to this briefing empty-handed,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said. “We don’t know what the ultimate goal is. The president says different things at different times and contradicts himself,” he added.
Republicans generally praised Trump’s action, which the administration says is intended to fight trafficking in drugs responsible for the deaths of Americans.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham called for a change in Venezuela’s leadership, saying it would reflect badly on the U.S. to have conducted such a long and large campaign if Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro remains in power.
“If Maduro is what they say he is, and I believe them, he needs to go. It should be the policy of the United States that when this is over, he’s no longer standing,” Graham told reporters.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Idrees Ali; additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Ryan Patrick Jones; Editing by Caitlin Webber and Rod Nickel)
