‘Lock Him Up!!’: Pete Hegseth’s Smug Defense of Illegal Boat Strike Ignites Fury as Experts Warn He May Face Charges No Trump Pardon Can Touch
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s defiant, almost mocking response to a damning report on an alleged illegal boat strike has ignited a public firestorm — and experts now warn that if the allegations hold, even President Donald Trump cannot protect him from the legal consequences barreling toward him.
The uproar only intensified after new reporting revealed that Hegseth allegedly ordered U.S. forces to kill all 11 occupants of what the White House has maintained was a suspected drug-smuggling boat — a directive that stunned officials and has since drawn accusations of outright criminality.
According to the Washington Post, the order was not issued through formal channels but delivered verbally and without ambiguity: “The order was to kill everybody,” two people with direct knowledge of the operation told the paper.
The Sept. 2 strike — carried out by SEAL Team 6 and overseen by Joint Special Operations Command — was the opening salvo in a broader campaign that has now killed more than 80 alleged traffickers.
The scope and lethality of the missions have sparked mounting concerns inside the government about unlawful conduct, potential war crimes, and Hegseth’s increasingly aggressive approach to military force.
The strike began after aerial surveillance led intelligence analysts to claim that the 11 people on a go-fast boat were ferrying drugs. A missile hit the vessel off the Trinidad coast, engulfing it in flames.
When the smoke cleared, commanders monitoring the live drone feed saw two survivors clinging to the wreckage. According to two people familiar with the operation, the Special Operations commander overseeing the strike ordered a second attack to comply with Hegseth’s instructions, the Post reported. The two men were killed in the water.
Several current and former officials told the Post that the Pentagon’s campaign is unlawful, noting that the alleged traffickers posed no imminent threat to the United States and were not engaged in an “armed conflict.”
Without a lawful basis for war, “killing any of the men in the boats amounts to murder,” said Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer now at Georgetown Law.
He added that even in wartime, an order to kill incapacitated survivors “would in essence be an order to show no quarter, which would be a war crime.”
Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts), a Marine Corps veteran who received a classified briefing on the strikes, offered an even sharper warning. “The idea that wreckage from one small boat in a vast ocean is a hazard to marine traffic is patently absurd, and killing survivors is blatantly illegal,” he said. “Mark my words: It may take some time, but Americans will be prosecuted for this — either as a war crime or outright murder.”
Online reaction was overwhelmingly negative. Many argued the orders were unlawful, noting the U.S. is not at war, and called for accountability — even prosecution of those involved, including Hegseth.
“Pete Hegseth is so f—ked,” said a workers rights lawyer on Threads. “The moment his orange daddy ain’t around, he is F—KED. He’s murderer and a war criminal and he’s pissed off every respectable officer in the military. That guy’s Fuuuu—keddd.”
View on Threads
Many in the comments predicted that even if Hegseth were held accountable, he would ultimately receive a presidential pardon.
But at least one person warned, “A Trump pardon won’t save him from the Hague.”
Another commenter was more blunt, “Lock him up AS WELL AS THE DUDE in the Whack House WHO ALSO BROKE THE LAW by giving the instructions for HIM to launch the strike!”
Outrage also resurfaced over Trump and Hegseth’s mockery of the six Democrats who warned military members not to follow unlawful orders. “This is literally why that video about not following illegal orders was filmed,” one critic wrote.
“This INDISCRIMINATE MURDER must STOP NOW. Hegseth and Trump must be stopped and held accountable now. No proof, no identification, no DUE PROCESS equals MASS MURDER!” another fumed.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, however, rejected the account, saying, “This entire narrative is completely false,” and insisted ongoing operations to dismantle narcoterrorism “have been a resounding success.”
Hegseth, however, leaned into the criticism. On Friday he posted on X that the report was “fake news,” but did not dispute any specific allegation. Instead, he emphasized that the missions are intended to be “lethal, kinetic strikes” designed to “kill the narco-terrorists who are poisoning the American people.”
View on Threads
He continued: “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization.”
On Saturday morning, he doubled down again: “We have only just begun to kill narco-terrorists.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Eugene Vindman demanded an immediate inquiry, writing, “you will be held accountable for illegal orders you give,” and calling for unredacted video of the Sept. 2 strike.
View on Threads
At the time of the strike, Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, commander at Fort Bragg, told participants on a secure channel that the survivors remained legitimate targets because they might summon other traffickers, according to the Post’s sources. He ordered the second strike to fulfill Hegseth’s directive.
The Pentagon has struck at least 22 additional boats, killing 71 more alleged smugglers. One operation yielded two survivors who were later captured by U.S. forces and repatriated to Ecuador and Colombia.
An apparent survivor from a strike in the Pacific was left to Mexican forces to rescue and never found. In other cases, boats were hit multiple times to ensure they sank. Briefings to Congress described the double tap on Sept. 2 as an effort to remove a navigation hazard, an explanation lawmakers found unpersuasive.
Hegseth’s forceful posture has also renewed internal concerns about his judgment. Several senior officials, speaking broadly about his tenure, have noted his limited management experience and the White House’s tendency to keep him away from high-stakes negotiations.
While Trump favors Hegseth personally, officials have increasingly relied on Secretary of the Army Daniel Driscoll for sensitive military diplomacy, including talks with Russia in Geneva to settle the Ukraine war. As Tom Nichols of The Atlantic wrote this week, the administration appears cautious about letting Hegseth handle “anything breakable or dangerous.”
Some commenters pointed out that Trump’s rhetoric about cracking down on narcotics entering the country directly contradicted his decision to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted in 2024 on cocaine and weapons charges and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
On Friday, Trump defended the pardon on social media, saying Hernández had been “treated very harshly and unfairly.”
What's Your Reaction?
Like
0
Dislike
0
Love
0
Funny
0
Angry
0
Sad
0
Wow
0
