4 months ago
9
ARTICLE AD BOX
Vice President JD Vance threw his full support behind President Donald Trump’s deadly military strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean this week, saying that he did not even care if people call it a war crime.
“Killing cartel members who poison our fellow citizens is the highest and best use of our military,” Vance wrote Saturday on X.
Political commentator Brian Krassenstein responded to say that “killing the citizens of another nation who are civilians without any due process is called a war crime.” Various experts on international law and the laws of war have also said the strike could be considered a war crime.
“I don’t give a shit what you call it,” the vice president replied.
Trump said Tuesday that the boat, a quad-motor watercraft carrying 11 people, was “positively identified” to be part of a Tren de Aragua operation. Trump designated the Venezuelan gang as a terrorist organization almost immediately after retaking office, and claims, with scant evidence, that its members are working directly with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to supply Americans with deadly illegal drugs.
Trump posted military video to Truth Social that shows the boat speeding along until it is hit by a projectile and left in flames.
Critics, however, doubt both the legality of Trump’s strike and whether there were actually any drugs on the boat.
The boat was carrying an unusually high number of people for its size, suggesting that could have been in the process of smuggling people into the U.S.
Even if it were a drug smuggling operation, it is not clear whether the occupants were given a chance to surrender before they were hit.
Typically the U.S. Coast Guard intercepts suspected drug-smuggling boats spotted along the coast, seizing the contraband and taking smugglers into custody. As recently as Friday, the Coast Guard announced that it had seized over 40,000 pounds of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean over the last month.
ALEX WROBLEWSKI/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
On X, Vance added a third post to his short thread about the strike.
“Democrats: let’s send your kids to die in Russia. Republicans: actually let’s protect our people from the scum of the earth,” he wrote.
(His claim about Democrats wanting to send Americans to fight in Russia is not based in reality. Vance opposes sending more U.S. aid to Ukraine to help Ukrainian troops fight off Russian invaders.)
PowerOurJournalism
Your SupportFuelsOur Mission
Your SupportFuelsOur Mission
Your membership fuels reporting that informs, inspires, and holds power accountable. Stand with us in this work – become a member now.
Join, Read, Impact
We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.
Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.
We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.
Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also defended the administration this week, saying that the attack was necessary and “it’ll happen again” in the future because Venezuela will not work with the U.S. to end the smuggling.
English (US) ·