As Trump's lethal strikes on alleged drug boats draw scrutiny, U.S. Congress steps up

The U.S. Congress is poised to give the Trump administration’s military strikes against alleged drug trafficking boats more scrutiny than at any point since the start of the operation off the South American coast. 

Both the U.S. House and Senate committees on armed services have announced they’ll look into allegations that two shipwrecked survivors of an initial strike in the Caribbean in early September were killed in a second targeted attack. 

Republican and Democratic members of the committees have said if it’s accurate that a strike was ordered on people who were defenceless after their boat had already been destroyed, the order could have been illegal, or even a war crime.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the allegation when it was first reported by the Washington Post last week as "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory."

But on Monday, the White House confirmed that multiple strikes were ordered during the operation in question, against a Venezuelan boat on Sept. 2.