Mike Johnson says boat strike hit "able-bodied" survivors, operation "entirely appropriate" [View all]

Source: CBS News

December 11, 2025 / 8:22 PM EST


House Speaker Mike Johnson, after viewing a video of the U.S. military's controversial Sept. 2 boat strikes and receiving a briefing from the commander who oversaw the mission, said Thursday that two initial survivors who were killed in a follow-on strike were "able-bodied," and the attacks were "entirely appropriate."

He reviewed the classified video of the follow-on strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat and was briefed by Adm. Frank Bradley on the operation. Afterward, Johnson told reporters he's satisfied with the intelligence and legality of the operation and said the strikes were conducted in accordance with the law and established protocol. Only a handful of lawmakers — the leaders of the House and Senate armed services and intelligence committees — have seen the video of the strikes.

The lawmakers agree that two men survived the initial strike and were seen clinging to a piece of the boat and waving, but they disagree about the condition of the survivors and what they may have been trying to do after the strike. Some Democrats and legal experts have argued that a follow-up strike to kill shipwrecked survivors could constitute a war crime. They believe the waving by the survivors could be interpreted as a call for help or an attempt to wave off another strike.

Republicans who have seen the video say the men were uninjured and trying to signal other drug vessels so they could continue their alleged drug running and were therefore legal targets. Adm. Bradley, after consulting a military lawyer who was in the room where the operation was being conducted, ordered another strike that killed the men. Johnson rejected characterizations of the men as helpless survivors and said of them, "They were able-bodied, they were not injured, and they were attempting to recover the contents of the boat, which was full of narcotics."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mike-johnson-boat-strike-video-survivors-able-bodied-venezuela/

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Whatever dirt they have on this slimy craven dumbass, it MUST BE bad.



So whoever fired on the boat, actually SAW "other drug vessels" in the area that were being "signaled" to and chose to ignore them???

Is THAT what they are trying to say??

The more they lie, the worse their fantastical story gets.