Alex Horton

You know, this is something that the Senate and the House Armed Services Committees are looking to entangle is any number of things to include, you know, what were the authorities taken and do they violate any rules of engagement?

You know, I think it's important to remember, you know, Agseth, I think, made it pretty crystal clear his view on this.

As you may know, you know, before he was defense secretary, one of his priorities while he was a Fox News host on the weekends was to champion Iraq and Afghanistan veterans that he felt were unfairly prosecuted for war crimes.

And there were a number that, you know, weren't just accused, but were convicted.

He talked about this consistently, that he feels military attorneys who offer the advice of how to conduct yourself lawfully, that it's too overbearing.

It's too bureaucratic of a process and too soft.

And he would prefer that war is left to what he calls the warfighters and not to the military lawyers.

All of that is an academic exercise that's besides the point that these are civilian traffickers who are alleged criminals but not lawful combatants.

So therefore, you know, everything I laid out about, you know, what it's like to be in combat and making these decisions and the distinctions.

What they're saying is this, it is all moot because this is homicide or murder on the high seas rather than this trying to pick apart the nuances of military law.

That is, it is a separate thing entirely.

As untrue?

You know, the Pentagon and the White House have contended that Hegseth did not say in so many words to kill everyone on the boat before the first strike occurred.

But everything else, they've essentially corroborated our reporting.

This bit about Hegseth not being around for the second strike, you know, that was our –

understanding and belief, but we didn't have enough reporting to put that in the story the first time.

But he confirmed that he was out of the room when Admiral Bradley made the decision to strike the two people in the water.

And we reported as such that Bradley made that call himself and ordered that strike.

Our reporting was that Hegseth made it clear to Admiral Bradley that he wanted to kill everyone in the boat.

So what our reporting says is Bradley executed that first strike.