Top Democrat, a former JAG, says killing shipwrecked survivors ‘is a war crime’

California Rep. Ted Lieu, vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday that attacking shipwrecked survivors is a crime of war, and that any member of the U.S. military involved in such actions — including Defense secretary Pete Hegseth — should be punished.

“I served on active duty as a JAG for four years, and then an additional 21 years in the reserves. And let me be very clear: Killing shipwrecked survivors is a war crime,” he told reporters in the Capitol.

Lieu, a former Air Force lawyer, acknowledged that any such crimes are unlikely to be prosecuted while President Trump remains in office. Still, he called on the administration to launch an investigation, with a warning that the case would not be closed when the president’s term ends.

“The Department of Justice must conduct an investigation into the war crime and hold all of those accountable — including Sec. Hegseth. He allegedly said, ‘Kill them all,’” the California Democrat continued. “If the Trump administration does not hold the people accountable, I guarantee you a future administration will do so. Because there is no statute of limitations for war crimes.”

The White House on Monday acknowledged that, as part of Trump’s war on narcotics, U.S. forces had launched a strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean Sea on Sept. 2. When two survivors were detected clinging to the battered vessel, Adm. Frank Bradley, who was heading the operation from Fort Bragg, N.C., ordered a second strike, killing both suspects. 

The incident was first reported by The Washington Post last week.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the strikes on Monday, saying drug traffickers pose a threat to national security.

“Adm. Bradley worked well within his authority and the law to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated,” Leavitt told reporters at the White House.

Yet the operation appears to contradict the Defense Department’s own manual detailing the laws of war, which specifies — under the heading of “Clearly Illegal Orders to Commit Law of War Violations” — that “orders to fire upon the shipwrecked would be clearly illegal.” 

Lieu cited that manual on Tuesday, targeting his sharpest criticisms at Hegseth, who had issued orders to “kill everybody” as part of the operation, according to the Post. The Pentagon chief had initially denied the report as “fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory,” only to reverse course on Monday in defense of the operation. 

Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, dismissed the notion of trying to impeach Hegseth over the episode.

For one thing, lawmakers don’t have all the details surrounding the strikes. For another, Congress is controlled by Trump’s GOP allies.

He’s endorsing the congressional investigations that lawmakers in both parties and both chambers are vowing to initiate. 

“That’s where this should start,” Aguilar said. “Republicans are not going to impeach Pete Hegseth.”

Lieu also backed that strategy, but was quick to argue that there are things Congress already knows. 

“We already do know that Sec. Hegseth lied,” the lawmaker said. 

“For those of us who served, we know that we all followed a code of conduct. And part of that code of conduct is to not lie, and to accept responsibility,” he continued. “Shame on Pete Hegseth. He is a coward; he must resign.”