US Navy commander ordered second Venezuela boat strike, White House says

A top US Navy admiral ordered a second round of strikes on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat, the White House has confirmed.

The "double tap" strike on 2 September has drawn bipartisan scrutiny among US lawmakers. The Washington Post recently reported that two people survived the first blast and were still clinging to the burning vessel when they were killed, raising fresh legality questions.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth authorised the strikes but did not give an order to "kill everybody", as the report said.

"Admiral (Frank) Bradley worked well within his authority and the law" in ordering the additional strike, Leavitt said.

More than 80 people have been killed in a number of similar strikes in the Caribbean Sea since early September. Each announcement from US officials is usually accompanied by grainy video, but no evidence of the alleged drug trafficking, and few details on who or what was on board each vessel.

The Trump administration says it is acting in self-defence by destroying boats carrying illicit drugs to the US.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have expressed concern over the report of the 2 September incident and have vowed congressional reviews of the strikes.

"President (Donald) Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance with the laws of war," Leavitt said during the Monday press briefing.

The press secretary neither confirmed the first strike left two survivors, nor that the second attack was intended to kill them.

Media reports that Hegseth had given the directive to kill all those on board the vessel during the 2 September strike have renewed concerns about the legality of US military strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean.

Hegseth has pushed back against accusations in the report, calling them "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory". On Monday, he tweeted that Admiral Bradley "is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support.

"I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since."

In recent weeks the US has expanded its military presence in the Caribbean, as part of what it calls an anti-narcotics operation.

Trump warned on Thursday that US efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would begin "very soon".

Over the weekend, the Senate Armed Services Committee said it would be "conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts" related to the 2 September strikes.

Republican chairman of the committee, Senator Roger Wicker, said on Monday that the lawmakers are planning to interview the "admiral that was in charge of the operation". He added that it was also seeking audio and video to "see what the orders were".

The Armed Services Committee in the House of Representatives also said it would lead a "bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question".

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a body of the highest-ranking US military officers, met both the House and Senate's armed services committees over the weekend.

Discussions centred around the operations in the region and "the intent and legality of missions to disrupt illicit trafficking networks", the group said.