Democrats press Pentagon to release full video of deadly Caribbean strike

Pete Hegseth

Top Democrats in Congress are now creating pressure on the Pentagon to release the full footage of the boat strike that happened in the Caribbean Sea in September this year, which killed two survivors of an earlier attack.

Officials have maintained that the boat was involved in drug trafficking.

In a joint letter sent to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Intelligence Committee chair Mark Warner and House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes requested that lawmakers be given access to the complete, unedited recording of the strike.

They also argued that the public should be able to see the video, with any necessary safeguards to protect sensitive intelligence.

The letter states the following. “We urge you to provide the full, unedited video to Congress for review. We also believe the American people should be able to see the footage once any sensitive intelligence is appropriately protected.”

Hegseth has told lawmakers that he is still deciding whether to share the footage with Congress. His concern is that sharing the footage with the Congress could lead to the revelation of classified information, AP reported.

The Trump administration has posted edited clips of the broader operation on social media for several months, but Democrats say those short videos do not offer a full accounting of what happened during the strike in question.

The push for transparency comes amid growing scrutiny of the administration’s expanding counter-narcotics campaign in the Caribbean and demands from legislators for clearer oversight of military actions carried out far from public view.