Hegseth: Pentagon won't release full video of Sept. 2 boat strikes
thehill.com

... Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that the Pentagon will not release the full, unedited video of the U.S. military's September strike on an alleged drug boat, which killed 11 "narco-terrorists," including two survivors in a follow-up strike.

"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 briefing senators on the U.S. military's ongoing, lethal strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. ...

Democrats have been calling on the Trump administration to release full footage from the strikes. President Trump initially expressed support for the clip to be shown to the public but has since deferred to the Defense secretary to make that call.

Senators were not shown the video during the Tuesday closed-door briefing.

"It is hard to square the widespread routine prompt posting of detailed videos of every strike with a concern that posting a portion of the video of the first strike would violate a variety of classification concerns," Sen. Chris ----- (D-Del.), who attended the briefing, told reporters on Capitol Hill. ...

Schumer blasts Rubio, Hegseth over transparency on Venezuela strikes
www.newsnationnow.com

... Cabinet secretaries Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth faced lawmakers in two separate briefings Tuesday about deadly U.S. strikes off the coast of Venezuela.

Both top Trump advisers remained tight-lipped about Tuesday's Senate briefing as they headed toward the House, instead praising the Trump administration's "Operation Southern Spear" campaign to reporters.

"This has been a highly successful mission that's ongoing and continued, and we're pleased to be here today to update Congress on how that's developing and how that's moving forward," Rubio said. Hegseth said he "echoed that" sentiment.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who has called for transparency around the strikes, blasted the closed-door meeting's results to reporters.

"I reiterated my demands of Secretary Hegseth in front of all 100 Senators, that he allow every senator to see the unedited version ... He refused. The administration came to this briefing empty-handed," Schumer said. ...