Report: Video Undercuts Pentagon Rational for Strike

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0:38In the 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L, Jeep and the Jeep Gorilla registered trademarks of FCA US LLC. Welcome to The Beat. I'm Ari Melbert. We begin with something that began serious, involves a tragedy, and now is a full-blown catastrophe on multiple levels for the Trump administration and also the United States Pentagon. There are clouds clearly gathering around Pentagon Chief Hegseth. And we are getting the new details, which is partly a bad thing. There's a problem here. And most people see that the government has a problem. But there's also transparency, accountability, and even bipartisan pressure at work.

1:15Something that Donald Trump, on his worst autocratic days, has tried to argue, claim, or pretend doesn't happen anymore. That he could be, as some of the protesters say, a king not subject to oversight. And yet here we are dealing with matters of life and death and war. And the oversight is in a way working because we're learning things. Doesn't mean we're in the clear. I'm not telling you this is all fixed and some of the lives lost are lost for good. But that brings me to how we are basically ending this week with some chilling new details about the deadly strike that, according to legal experts and many veterans who work in this space, appears on its face from the video evidence to constitute a war crime committed by the United States under the Trump administration.

1:59There are serious questions about the two shipwrecked survivors of what was that first attack and whether once they were survivors, right, that's the term of art in law and combat, we've all heard about having survivors of war and having detainees. If you think back and you're not a legal expert, why do we have so many discussions about detainees, even in the greatest wars, the World War II or the so-called war on terror, where we were told these terrorists were terrible, and they were, but if they were caught alive, we followed the rules, the Geneva Conventions. You can think of examples where we didn't, and those were multi-year scandals, but in general, we have detainees, We have survivors of war, enemy combatants and the rest because we don't execute everyone.

2:43I say that as the baseline to remind you why this is such a big deal. The September 2nd attack involved on video the apparent killing or execution of those shipwrecked survivors. Now we're getting more reporting about the video evidence. The New York Times, this came late today, says a new detail about the survivors of U.S. military strike on a boat in the Caribbean further complicates the military's explanations for launching that, quote, follow-up attack that killed them. That is, of course, the strike that is sometimes proverbially referred to this week as the second strike. Quote, multiple people who've seen video of the attacks say the survivors climbed on the overturned hull and waved to something overhead, a gesture interpreted as an attempt to surrender, beckoning rescue, or trying to signal other alleged drug traffickers.

3:31You can see there the debate about what the signal meant and whether they were a threat or not. Now, the Times reports some who viewed the video said the most logical explanation was that the two survivors had seen the American aircraft above them and started signaling for a rescue. It's not clear from the video what the survivors had definitely seen the American aircraft, whether or not they had. All of this adding to the accounts from lawmakers who, of course, are putting on this bipartisan pressure, which is why so quickly some information, video and testimony has come out. They were able to view what the United States military under the Trump administration is still not releasing the video of the second attack.

4:05And they said the survivors, according to some lawmakers, appeared to be trying to flip the remnants of their boat. One lawmaker recounting there was no boat, there was wreckage. Again, by the way, I'll leave this quote up, but that's why we've heard this described by some credible sources as shipwrecked survivors, not exactly people running a functioning vessel at that point. Continuing the quote, there was no radio. There were two guys clinging to a tiny, non-awash portion of the keel of a capsized boat. It would be important if there was no radio or international signaling process, right? Audio, or I guess perhaps something else in the water.

4:44But if there's no radio and no signaling, then, well, that's going to affect what they were able to do and the argument or explanation that some around the Pentagon have offered that maybe they were still communicating and that's some type of threat. There was this classified briefing from Admiral Bradley, who oversaw these strikes under Pentagon Chief Hegseth. Again, reading from the reporting of the New York Times journalist, quote, Amid preparations for the briefing, U.S. officials told the Times they had been told one of the survivors had radioed for help. But the people said remarks from Admiral Bradley about communications were instead purely speculative.

5:21The reason for the disconnect was not clear. You'll notice that word from the Times, disconnect. That is diplomatic. And as I've reported and serious people have mentioned, this is a process story. This is not a story where you know everything that happened. But if disconnect turns into cover-up or lies about an alleged war crime, well, the Trump administration's problems are going to increase, not decrease. There is bipartisan pressure, but there also, as some of the material has started coming out, A split. We've often seen that in congressional politics. Some of the Democrats say it's very clear what they saw on video.

6:04First of all, we need to be clear. There was no fog of war. They had a clear vision of these two people on top of what was left of their capsized boat. For quite a while, I saw Senator Cotton say that the two gentlemen were trying to turn their boat back up, I guess. That is patently ridiculous. That boat wasn't going anywhere. Anybody who sees that video would have real questions about whether the United States is abiding by the values that distinguish us around the world. There are questions about why the Trump administration is holding back the video of the second strike. If the videos here are part of an important investigative review of these warlike actions from an administration that says it has wartime powers from immigration to bombing vessels that aren't part of a country we're at war with, then surely the oversight of this non-war lethal activity can include all the video, not just some that is selectively released.

7:00We have video, of course, from the first strike. Administration does release strike videos. Indeed, at times, it is strike videos that this, and to be fair, some other administrations have touted to show the might of the American military, and even some argue the deterrent effect of showing enemies, be they in boats with contraband and drugs, or worse, terrorists and foreign fighters, look what the U.S. can do. Now, suddenly, this video-first policy is being held back when it comes to the second strike. Trump, though, has claimed there'd be no problem with releasing video of the second strike.

7:37Will you release video of that strike so that the American people can see for themselves? I don't know what they have, but whatever they have, we'd certainly release. No problem.

7:49There is an echo here of so many other things with this president. We'll release the Epstein files, except they've been in his control the whole time and he hasn't released them. You go back to the first turf, I have no problem talking to Bob Mueller, but he never did. Donald Trump is, if nothing else, very good at keeping an eye on the PR and the headlines he wants. And while I think some of the press has wised up over time, and certainly some of the public, if you look at the reaction of Donald Trump's misleading statements about high inflation or prices, just to pick a very different issue, plenty of the public has wised up to this.

8:22What he's seeking, which you won't see on our headline right now, you see we're talking about Pentagon Chief Hegseth under fire, but he is, just as a political and public relations matter, according to the past evidence, he's seeking headlines that say he's fine with the release, just like he got headlines about being fine with Todd and Mueller. Well, the buck stops with the leadership. In this case, the Pentagon Chief and the president. And if they want the video out, it should be out. And every day that it goes by and it's not out, that buck stops at the president's desk, where his secrecy problem stretches from his own past dealings with Epstein, which has a looming deadline this month, of course, to whatever his administration's currently doing with Epstein's co-conspirator, giving her lenient treatment, whatever's going on in this video, and a heck of a lot of other stuff, crypto, corruption allegations about deals they've cut relating to war and Russia.

9:15There's a lot of secrecy. And that makes you wonder, what are they hiding? And in our skeptical internet era, a heck of a lot more people, including on the center and the center-right, maybe not pure loyal MAGA, but a heck of a lot more people are not naturally just trusting the government, telling them on any of the issues I just mentioned, including this strike, trust us, you don't need to see the evidence with your own eyes. Here's what one military lawyer said, it's hard to see any argument that the follow-up strike was lawful unless one accepts a series of premises that the U.S. is in a war with drug traffickers.

9:46That's that claimed wartime power I mentioned earlier that Congress hasn't declared. Quote, a broad array of legal analysts dispute the idea that we would just be in a endless actual drug war. Second, that the two survivors were on board a seaworthy vessel and not at risk of drowning. That the drugs in the boat itself were military objects. Stack that all up and you have something more like a law school exam hypothetical. Something much closer to that than the actual legal justification for some of what you see on your screen. Now, the Pentagon continues to carry out strikes. They did a new one late Thursday night.

10:20The total number of these strikes is over 20 estimated, and they have killed 86 people. Remember, a whole bunch of people are getting killed by this process, which we now see is, at a minimum, convoluted, and at a maximum, a potential war crime. That's the state of play, with a heck of a lot of secrecy. And the Pentagon chief under fire to a degree that Donald Trump, who used to fire people for fake on TV, his fake firing, his Apprentice show, but lately hasn't shown the ability to demand any accountability and remove people in his administration despite some of these documented problems. I got two special guests on this when we're back in 90 seconds.

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12:13With seating for up to seven, the 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L keeps busy schedules moving. From early practices to late night games and the triumphant ride home. Available 4x4 capability helps you drive safely and confidently when weather shifts or plans change. The laughter, high fives, and shared wins become the memories you cherish. In the 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L. Jeep and the Jeep Grill are registered trademarks of FCA US LLC.

12:44Earlier tonight, President Trump hosted the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at the White House. The tree looks amazing. It's 35 feet tall. Try to see the tree if you can, because in a month it'll be tossed to the curb along with Pete Hegseth. Just being topical, guys. Just being topical. That's all. Just being topical. That's how it's playing on Late Night. I'm joined by Paul Rykoff, national security expert, political analyst, veteran host of the Independent Americans. He's the founder of Independent Veterans of America and Bill Kristol, who has White House experience and is the founding director of Defending Democracy Together.

13:19Welcome to both of you, Paul. What's important to understand now that we've learned a bit more, including that Times account? That he shouldn't be the secretary of defense for another hour. I think that that is well established now that he can't be trusted to tell the truth. He can't be trusted not to be sloppy. be, he can't be trusted to be competent. Because I think also really important to note this week that the Inspector General Signalgate report has been shared with Congress. And we've gotten some bits of that where it's been defined now that he jeopardized the safety of American troops.

13:51He disclosed information that could have gotten people killed. So I think that's really central to this entire thing is that you can't trust the Secretary of Defense. And we have a right to see the entire videotape. We need total transparency around this. But we also have to have confidence in the man who's leading the entire military. And right now, the accountability is needed for the American public, but maybe most urgently for our troops. They need to know that he's not being held to a different standard, and they need to know that they can trust him, and they need to know that he's not going to potentially get them killed.

14:19So any day he's in that office is a day our entire country's national security is at risk and our enemies are celebrating. Bill? I agree with Paul on that, though. I would just point out that whoever Trump replaces him with might not be someone who I could really truly trust either. Incidentally, I don't believe Trump wants, everyone's saying, well, will Trump throw him to the curb? I don't believe he will. Trump wants someone who will do what he wants there, which includes firing senior military officers. It includes, I'm going to be honest here, lying to Congress and lying to the public. It includes doing all kinds of things that a more respectable, a more principled, a more experienced leader wouldn't do.

14:57So, you know, the buck stops with Trump. You made this point earlier on, Ari, and I think Paul would agree with that too. not to minimize how bad it is to have Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense. You know, on the releasing the video, which is such an important point, it would be one thing if they weren't releasing any video, right? Sources and methods, we can't disclose how we do this, or there are privacy concerns. You can imagine certain things, right? It's inappropriate. We don't release national security documents. They released half the first part of the video. They released it the next day.

15:25Hegseth played it on Fox News, right, to boast about how great they were. What is the rationale for releasing some of the video and not the rest of the video? For me, that's really decisive, and it proves we are in the middle of a cover-up. Again, as I say, there might be a principled reason for not releasing some set of documents. Instead, there are a whole lot of other documents they could release that would tell us more about what happened. But releasing part of the video and not releasing the rest of it, what's the rationale for that? Except there's something they don't want us to know. There's something they don't want us to see.

15:55yeah cover-up of a material that as described is is meets the definition of war crimes uh and again the words matter so much because we've heard some descriptions out of the uh pro-hagseth camp say oh well you know they still had a boat and maybe like i read maybe they're you know on the radio about to call in backup and and go to war and you say okay well if that were true be interesting to look at that. Well, it's not true because apparently, again, I read the reporting very carefully to the audience. People can make up their own mind, but apparently there was no ship left. So you got guys who are literally hanging on for life, life that they then lost, and whether they're waving or whatever they're doing, that looks a lot more like executing survivors.

16:42And that's not something the United States takes kindly at. It's something that we tend to go after our enemies for, Paul? Yeah. I mean, the eye in the sky doesn't lie. So let's see the tape. Let's see the tape for this strike. Let's see the tape for every strike and let the American public understand because Bill's making an important point here. They haven't been claiming that operational security is at risk to hear. If anything, they've been trying to use it to dunk on people and talk about how tough they are. So let's open the kimono. Let's look under the hood. Let's see the entire thing. And let's also pick apart the timeline because a part of this that's also significant is, Hegseth said he left the room midway through the strike.

17:19Where the hell did he go that was more important than overseeing a military operation where not only bad guys are potentially, potential bad guys are being killed, American troops were at risk. What on earth was more important for him to be at than in that room for that strike? That's a question that has not been answered. In addition to, why did Admiral Holsey resign? The Southcom commander, we have mixed reporting about that. We need to hear from Admiral Holsey himself. We need to hear from him. Why did he resign? And what does he believe? Yeah. So, you know, Bill, this is an issue where the actual substance is as serious as it comes.

17:54You're talking about war crimes. You're talking about the United States Code of Military Justice. You're talking about whether it's under this administration or a future one where you might draw accountability. Americans, we know from life and plenty of movies, have great concern and skepticism. if members of the military are being asked to pay for or be punished for what their commanders or civilian oversight asked them to do. So this is as serious as it gets. But what's unserious, as you know, Bill, is the video game meme trolling of Hegseth and some of the people around him that apparently look at all this as, quote, content.

18:31Because it's stupid, I want to show it. Viewers should know that I'm not showing you this because it's serious and important. It's stupid. Here's Hegseth with a meme of Franklin the Turtle blowing up drug boats. Franklin targets narco-terrorists, he says, for your Christmas wish list. This is amidst all of this. another written statement here that involves sort of the political media, if you will. One of these individuals involved in podcasts who had worked with Charlie Kirk says, every new attack aimed at Pete Hegseth makes me want another narco drug boat blown up and sent to the bottom of the ocean.

19:11Now, he has every right to post that bill. He's free speech. Say what you want. But then the commander in chief's Pentagon leader says, your wish is our command, Andrew, just sunk another narco boat. What do you think of this extremely unserious performative posture, Bill, during what is a war crimes probe? I mean, it's terrible. It's embarrassing. It really, if you are, I defer to Paul on this, but if you're a serious person in the military, whether you're an enlisted kid or you're a senior officer, you just can't believe this person is Secretary of Defense. We've had, you know, Secretaries of Defense some of us have liked more than others and, you know, made some big mistakes, some of them.

19:52But nothing like this, nothing juvenile and, as you say, childishly performative like this. You know, on this point that Paul made just for a second on Texas going, leaving the meeting, just two quick points about that. You know what? If the Secretary of Defense leaves one part of the Pentagon, if he was and goes to another part, they can track him down. You know, you'll be in the shot to know that they have pretty good contact with the Secretary of Defense at all times. They have these things, phones and, you know, other ways of getting in touch. He has a mill aide, several military aides with him at every moment who could be buzzed by Admiral Bradley's military aide and said, hey, we need the secretary for a second to sign off on something or not.

20:29So the notion that he's like, oh, I didn't know what was going on for an hour or two is literally insane. I mean, if you've been in government, I mean, even at much lower levels of government, people are in instant contact, let alone at the level of being secretary. And incidentally, this was September 2nd. This was their first big strike. Like, they were so proud of it, we know, because Hexeth went and touted it, and the president himself touted it that night, right, and put the video up, if I'm not mistaken, and then Hexeth showed it again maybe the next morning on Fox and Friends. You're telling me that he watches part of it, but it's a little unclear what's happened.

21:04There's fog of war, as Hexeth calls it. He thinks it's literal fog, but anyway, there's smoke and there's fire, and they're not sure exactly. And he just walks out. It's ludicrous. You and I have seen, we've seen video, we've seen photos, right, of people in the situation room in the middle of a serious action. They stay there for hours. You want to know what's happened. If you're in charge, now maybe you take a break. You have a super urgent meeting. You've got to go talk to a foreign leader for 10 minutes. Of course, you step out of the room. But he just goes off because the schedule, he looks at his scheduler, because A taps him on his shoulder.

21:32Or maybe, Bill. Sir, you have a meeting at 3 p.m. It's ludicrous. Or maybe, Bill, you've got to go into that other operations room where they say, hey, boss, we've got three silly memes. Which way do you want to disrespect the troops? You got to propose that. I'm running out of time, but Paul, as our veteran here, I want to give you, I got 40 seconds for your final thoughts. His tweet says, your wish is our command. So that's where he's taking his commands from. I think this is really, really important to underscore at a time where Laura Loomer now has a press pass at the Pentagon and is also focusing her ire on Dan Driscoll, who's the Army secretary, who could be Hex's successor.

22:08They've already started to move some guns around to try to poison the waters around Driscoll because he would be viewed as a more moderate, more reasonable successor to Hegseth. So the real question is, who are their bosses? Who are they accountable to? And most of all, it should be to the troops. And this is laughable, disrespectful, and most of all, dishonorable. To post this kind of stuff is beneath the United States and beneath the Secretary of Defense, and it's absolutely unacceptable. Paul Rakoff and Bill Kristol, thank you both. By the end of the hour, we're going to show you the South Park satire of this same individual, Pete Hegseth, how he is just getting the business, including some both funny but disturbing satire about how he's obsessed with his content.

22:51We also have an update on Donald Trump overseeing a Jan 6 related probe of that infamous pipe bomb, even after he freed so many other Jan 6 convicts. But next, as Donald Trump tries to again use or potentially abuse his oversight powers to affect the media and free speech, something we have covered from the beginning today, a massive Netflix deal and concerns about whether Trump is trying to abuse power. I've got great guests. It's an important story. Next. Hi, Diva. It's Rachel. And Jordan. Yeah, hi. Quick question. Why are you not spending your Venmo balance? Yeah, we're concerned. You can like buy stuff with it.

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24:01From magnesium glycinate for heart and muscle support to hair growth capsules for fuller, thicker hair. And probiotics with 20 billion live cultures for digestion. Nature's Bounty. It's in your nature to thrive. Learn more at naturesbounty.com. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Every day brings somewhere to be. And everyone counting on you to get them there. With seating for up to seven, the 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee L keeps busy schedules moving. From early practices to late night games and the triumphant ride home.