Republican and Democratic lawmakers are calling for congressional reviews of the deadly U.S. strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied a report regarding his orders on the matter. CBS News senior national security correspondent Charlie D'Agata has the latest.

Washington

Lawmakers from both major U.S. parties have called for greater transparency and investigation into recent American military strikes on suspected drug boats near Venezuela, following reports of a possible war crime involving a so-called 'double tap' strike. Congressional leaders are questioning the legality of these actions and the extent of presidential authority in ordering military operations without clear explanation.

The U.S. has significantly increased its military presence in the Caribbean, deploying aircraft carriers, advanced fighter jets, and drones near Venezuelan waters. Venezuela has strongly rejected the U.S. closure of airspace around its territory, labeling it a colonial threat, as tensions in the region continue to rise amid uncertainty over potential military engagement.

Republicans, Democrats call for reviews of U.S. strikes near Venezuela

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are demanding answers from the Pentagon about those military strikes on suspected drug boats and a new report that they may have committed a war crime. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine and Republican Congressman Mike Turner appeared on the Sunday talk show calling for more information. There is a buildup that the president has not explained in a way that relates solely to the actions that are currently going down in the Caribbean. It is certainly a significant concern in Congress. It's time for Congress to rein in a president who is deciding to wage war on his own say-so, which is not what the Constitution allows. All right, CBS News National Security Correspondent Charlie Daggett is joining us from Washington this morning. So, Charlie, bring us up to speed on the concerns in Congress about these strikes and what's alleged, what the Washington Post is alleging happened. The order that the defense secretary gave to those commanders who were on the ground during, I guess, what was that very first strike that you reported on way back when it happened. Right. So, the thing that they're debating over right now, aside from the legality of the strikes in general, is that first strike where the Washington Post reported that there was a second strike. Sometimes the military calls it a double tap when you go back and see if you've hit the target and there were survivors in the water. And that raises all kinds of questions about war crimes or what exactly this operation is, if it's special ops. But either way, in a military engagement like that, that is strictly forbidden. And that's why, as you said, Congressman, on both sides of the aisle want to know more about it. Now, Secretary Hicks hasn't come out and said, I did not order that. He wouldn't specifically talk to that. But he said, as usual, the fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland. He then released a sort of meme showing a turtle blowing up a drug boat, or a suspected drug boat. The RPG fired by Franklin, I guess, is the character, toward the vessel and is an explosion. So that's the way he's handling it. But I'm not exactly sure he can continue to deflect the heat of what's happening there. I've just come back from that region. Look, there's no way to overstate it. The United States is preparing for war. They are tooled up. They've got the aircraft carrier there, the Gerald R. Ford, F-35s, the Reaper drones with the Hellfire missiles, thought to be responsible for that. All of that's happening right around Puerto Rico and in the waters off Venezuela. B-52s have been flying over there. F-18s from the Ford are overflying areas, not over Venezuela itself, but certainly skirting the coast and making a show of it. Also, the Marines are there. So you're about as tooled up as you can get for a military posture. So as you know, the president declared over this weekend that the airspace in and around Venezuela is closed, quote, in its entirety. The president also was asked about that alleged double tap, and what did he have to say about that? Because it does seem, you know as well as I do, when the president has some degree of certainty about how he feels about a particular subject or a particular policy, he's not very shy about letting the media know. For example, when he was asked about the federal troops in Chicago, perhaps that there were too many, he said that he, in his estimation, there were not enough. So when he feels strongly about something, he's going to come out and say it. He was asked about this double tap, and it seemed kind of wishy-washy to me. It was a bit wishy-washy, but he said, in his words, Pete said that it didn't happen. So he's putting his trust, as in a normal environment you would put the trust in the Secretary of Defense, but he is sort of defiantly saying, look, this is Pete Hegseth's mission, and he's driving it, and he feels fully confident in his defense secretary. Now in terms of closing the airspace, as he said, to airlines, pilots, drug dealers, human traffickers, et cetera, Venezuela's government forcefully rejected it, calling it a colonial threat to undermine the country's territorial integrity. Now, this happened a couple of days ago, and it put everybody on edge, of course, because we're waiting, right? As I said, they are postured. Whether they're going to engage in a military conflict that goes on to land strikes may be irrelevant at the moment. They are absolutely postured to do that. That's where you send a carrier in, if you think about the strikes on the Houthis. The kind of aircraft, the kind of what's called the strike package is for those kind of strikes. So this might be PSYOPs, this might be, you know, giving a warning to the leadership of Venezuela, but it's got everybody on edge, and of course, Venezuela's come out swinging. Yeah. All right. Charlie, reporting for us, as always, my friend Charlie D'Agata in D.C. We appreciate you. Thanks, Vlad.

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Breakdown