For reporters who covered President Donald Trump’s tumultuous first term, the last week has imparted a profound sense of deja vu as more and more information has emerged about a Sept. 2 drone strike against what the president and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth allege was a drug-running boat manned by members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
After The Washington Post reported that Hegseth — the ex-Fox News weekend host who Trump tapped as the Pentagon’s top civilian official despite a lack of related experience, a long history of problematic drinking and troubling sexual misconduct allegations — had ordered U.S. Navy SEALS to fire on two survivors of an initial strike on the boat to fulfill his order to “kill everybody” onboard, both the White House and the Defense Department lashed out at the newspaper by accusing reporters of fabricating the story out of whole cloth.
