Democrats are calling for “accountability” for the Trump administration’s follow-up strike on a reported drug boat in the Caribbean.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who, along with fellow Democrats in a controversial video message, urged service members to refuse “illegal orders,” declared that military officials would be placed “under oath” in an investigation of the boat strike.

“We’re going to have an investigation,” the Armed Services Committee member said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“We’re going to have a public hearing. We’re going to put these folks under oath. And we’re going to find out what happened. And then, there needs to be accountability,” added Kelly, who is being investigated for his part in the video by the “Seditious Six.”

(Video Credit: NBC News)

Kelly and his Democrat cohorts have been up in arms over the administration’s targeting of boats operated by alleged narco-terrorists. A Washington Post report last week sparked renewed hysteria when it claimed the September strike against a boat left survivors and that a follow-up strike was ordered to comply with directions by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to “kill everybody.”

“As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland,” Hegseth fired back in a post on social media.

As usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.

As we’ve said from the beginning, and in every statement, these highly effective strikes are specifically…

— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 28, 2025

Democrat Sens. Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Jack Reed (D-RI), the chair and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, respectively, declared a “vigorous oversight” of the incident.

“The Committee is aware of recent news reports — and the Department of Defense’s initial response — regarding alleged follow-on strikes on suspected narcotics vessels in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility,” they wrote in a joint statement. “The Committee has directed inquiries to the Department, and we will be conducting vigorous oversight to determine the facts related to the circumstances.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) believes a “war crime” may have been committed in the reported follow-up strike.

“I think it’s very possible there was a war crime committed,” Van Hollen, who famously defended ‘Maryland dad’ Kilmar Abrego Garcia, told ABC News’s “This Week.”

Van Hollen: “It’s either murder from the first strike if their whole theory is wrong, and I think the weight of the legal opinion here is that they’ve concocted this ridiculous legal theory. But even if you accept their legal theory, then it is a war crime. I do believe the… pic.twitter.com/3HciUSDUGX

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 30, 2025

“Of course, for it to be a war crime, you have to accept the Trump administration’s whole construct here, which is we’re in armed conflict, at war, with this particular — with the drug gangs. Of course, they’ve never presented the public with the information they’ve got here. But it could be worse than that, right? If that theory is wrong, then it’s plain murder,” Van Hollen said.

“I’m saying that it’s either murder from the first strike, if their whole theory is wrong — and I think, you know, the weight of the legal opinion here is that they have concocted this ridiculous legal theory,” he said. “But even if you accept their theory, then it is a war crime.”

“And so I do believe that the Secretary of Defense should be held accountable for giving those kinds of orders,” Van Hollen added.

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Frieda Powers

Senior Staff Writer
Frieda@bizpacreview.com

Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.

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