Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a leading defense hawk, on Tuesday called on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to release the full video of the Sept. 2 follow-up strike on distressed mariners in the Caribbean Sea to all members of Congress, signaling his dissatisfaction with the Pentagon’s decision not to share the video more widely.
“I think it should be. I think the video should be given to everybody in Congress,” Graham told reporters when asked about whether Hegseth should share the video of the follow-up missile strike on two individuals who survived an initial strike on a Venezuelan boat in September.
“I don’t think most Americans give a damn about the video. I’d like all of us to see it,” Graham added.
He made his remarks after Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave senators a classified briefing in the Senate’s sensitive compartmented information facility about military strikes against Venezuelan boats suspected of smuggling drugs.
Graham argued that the Trump administration’s broader policy goals for the escalating conflict with Venezuela are more important than the details of the September missile strike against two survivors clinging to a smoldering ship.
“Most Americans want to know what’s going to happen next. I want to know what’s going to happen next. Is it the policy to take Maduro down? It should be, if it’s not. And if he goes, what’s going to happen next? I’d like a better answer as to what happens when Maduro goes,” Graham said, referring to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has viewed the full video of the Sept. 2 strike, called the incident “awful.”
“This morning I demanded in front of every senator to Hegseth’s face that he let every senator see the unedited video of what happened on Sept. 2. I’ve seen it. It turns your stomach. It is awful and people should see it,” Schumer told reporters Tuesday after the briefing.
Hegseth told reporters that the Pentagon would not release the video publicly to avoid disclosing sensitive information.
“In keeping with long-standing Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course we’re not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters after the briefing.
