Here’s a recap of the day so far
In a cabinet meeting that lasted for more than two hours, defense secretary Pete Hegseth gave more details about the decision to re-strike an alleged drug trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela on 2 September. He said that he “watched that first strike” but ultimately did not “stick around for the hour or two hours” after. “So I moved on to my next meeting,” the defense secretary said. “A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the which he had the complete authority to do.” Hegseth went on to say that decorated US Navy admiral Frank Bradley made the “right call” as he described the unfolding events to reporters.
For his part, Donald Trump said that countries manufacturing and selling drugs to the US are “subject to attack”, adding that strikes wouldn’t be limited to Venezuela. The president also said that the administration is “going to start doing those strikes on land,” after defending his crackdown on alleged narcotics smugglers, which has largely been contained to the sea.
Democrats have come out swinging against the administration over the much-scrutinized second boat strike. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called Hegseth “spineless” and “a national embarrassment” and called for the defense secretary to release the full unedited tape of the deadly strikes on the alleged drug boat.
In his ninth cabinet meeting since returning to office, Trump also said that the national guard will soon deploy to New Orleans. He added that the Republican governor (and staunch ally of the president) of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, had called him and asked for help. “We’re going there in a couple of weeks,” Trump said.
The president noted early on in the meeting that he would be announcing his selection for the next chair of the Federal Reserve early next year. He repeated that he talked to treasury secretary Scott Bessent about taking over the Fed but Bessent didn’t want the job.