BREAKING: Pete Hegseth did not issue order to 'kill them all' in drug boat strikes, admiral says

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth did not issue an order to "kill them all" on a recent double strike from the US on a drug boat from Venezuela, according to Admiral Frank M. Bradley, who confirmed the details to lawmakers in Congress.

"Admiral Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, not to give no quarter or to kill them all," Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AK) said after lawmakers met with the official.

Cotton also defended the attack on the drug bots, calling them “righteous strikes” on the drug traffickers bringing a payload to the United States. The comments from Cotton came after Admiral, Bradley appeared in Congress as lawmakers are conducting an investigation into the double strike on the Venezuelan drug boat. The first strike did not kill two of those narcoterrorists on the vessel. However, the US conducted a second strike, which then killed both surviving individuals.

A report from the Washington Post following the attack had said that Hegseth himself had issued an order to kill the remaining drug traffickers who survived the first strike. That report was later countered by the New York Times, which said although Hegseth had called for the boat to be sunk and all narcoterrorists to be killed, he did not command for the second strike personally.

The Pentagon has alleged that the quote as well as order to "kill them all" was falsely attributed to Hegseth and that it was something that "he never said."

"The admiral confirmed that there had not been a kill them all order and that there was not an order to grant no quarter," Rep. Jim Himes (D-CN) added in comments to reporters about the lawmakers' briefing with Bradley.

At the time of the strikes, Bradley was the admiral overseeing the operation to take out the drug boat. Because of that, Bradley has been attending a number of different meetings on Capitol Hill during the fallout of the strikes, whch some Democrats have alleged to be a "war crime."

Sen. Chris Coons, (D-DE), ranking member of the defense appropriations subcommittee, said, "I think it'd be hard to watch the series of videos and not be troubled by it."