Closing summary
This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration for the day. Here are the latest developments:
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that US forces launched a second strike on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel on 2 September, but described it as legal “self-defense to protect Americans”.
Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary who ordered the attack, distanced himself from the commander who carried out the second strike, suggesting that the Pentagon supported the commander, but that he had made the decision to kill shipwreck survivors, which is a war crime.
Hegseth previously told his former colleague at Fox & Friends he had monitored the attack in real time. “I watched it live,” Hegseth said the morning after the strikes.
US Navy vice admiral Frank Bradley, who was the commander in charge of the attack, will provide a classified briefing to lawmakers on Thursday.
A federal appeals court ruled today that Trump’s former personal lawyer, Alina Habba, is serving unlawfully as the US attorney for the district of New Jersey.
The US homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, was criticized on Monday for using language on social media that closely echoes dehumanizing terms for immigrants deployed by neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
The Canadian publisher of the Franklin the Turtle books, a series for children, has condemned the “unauthorized” use of the beloved character’s image by the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.
Mark Kelly, the Democratic senator from Arizona, said that Trump’s accusation that he is guilty of Seditious behavior, punishable by death” has led to a new wave of threats against him and his wife, Gabby Giffords, a former congresswoman who survived an assassination attempt in 2011.
Commander who ordered second strike in Septmber attack on suspected drug traffickers to brief Congress
US Navy vice admiral Frank Bradley will provide a classified briefing to lawmakers overseeing the military on Thursday as they investigate a US military attack on a boat allegedly carrying drugs that included a second strike that killed two survivors.
Bradley, who was commander of Joint Special Operations Command at the time of the 2 September attack, ordered the follow-up strike, the White House said Monday as it defended the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth from accusations that he had ordered a war crime.
Mike Rogers, the Republican chair of the House Armed Services Committee, said he was “satisfied” following a conversation with Hegseth on the attack, but that he also wanted to hear from Bradley.
“We’ll all have clarity on Thursday afternoon,” Rogers said.
