Arizona Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly commented further on the controversial September attack on a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean, Tuesday on MS-NOW’s “Morning Joe.” Kelly appeared in a video last month with other Congressional Democrats urging service members to refuse illegal orders, which triggered a backlash from the Trump administration and questions about what orders, if any, have been unlawful. Kelly, a former Naval aviator, didn’t give a specific answer but told interviewers Sunday that officers “should know.” After that, the Washington Post reported that one of the air strikes on suspected drug smugglers in the Caribbean included a “second strike” to wipe out survivors of the first. This sparked a conversation about whether knowledge of the “double tap” attack on this boat in September could have triggered the comments about illegal orders. But this is apparently not the case. “As I recall, he didn’t say that there was a second weapon used,” Kelly told MS-NOW about a briefing senators received from the DoD. “They seemed to me to be sort of evasive. Their legal analysis about this entire operation has a bunch of holes in it.”

SEN. MARK KELLY: The first thing we need to do is interview everybody who was in the room with Secretary Hegseth and Admiral Bradley. We need to get some more information from the general counsel of the Department of Defense. He came and briefed us several weeks ago about this specific strike. He didn’t share all the information with us. As I recall, he didn’t say that there was a second weapon used. We asked a bunch of questions. They seemed to me to be sort of evasive. Their legal analysis about this entire operation has a bunch of holes in it. So I want to see the video. I want to see whatever transcript they have about what was said in the room, you know, at the time. I want to see the written order, we haven’t seen that yet. The legal analysis for the overall operation should be made public. There’s no reason why the American people shouldn’t see that. This president has said they’re going to be the most transparent, you know, White House and Pete Hegseth has said DoD is going to be transparent, but then he kicks out or requires members of the press to leave. You know, we need to shine a pretty bright light on what happened here and get to the bottom of it. And people need to be held accountable. And I feel awful for members of the United States Navy. I served in the Navy for 25 years, I’ve been involved in operations like this. I’ve sunk two ships myself in the first Gulf War. Stuff like this should not happen. It’s pretty obvious that you do not execute survivors who are clinging on to a side of a ship.
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