{"id":2516524,"date":"2025-12-02T12:07:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wild-twist-nyt-rides-to-hegseths-rescue-and-demolishes-wapos-kill-them-all-hit-piece\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T12:09:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:09:51","slug":"wild-twist-nyt-rides-to-hegseths-rescue-and-demolishes-wapos-kill-them-all-hit-piece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wild-twist-nyt-rides-to-hegseths-rescue-and-demolishes-wapos-kill-them-all-hit-piece\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild Twist: NYT Rides to Hegseth&#8217;s Rescue and Demolishes WaPo&#8217;s &#8216;Kill Them All&#8217; Hit Piece"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwild-twist-nyt-rides-to-hegseths-rescue-and-demolishes-wapos-kill-them-all-hit-piece%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2516524&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A recent New York Times report challenges claims made by The Washington Post that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth issued a &#8220;spoken directive&#8221; to kill survivors of a U.S. strike against narcotics traffickers on September 2 in the Caribbean. The Post had reported that this alleged order to &#8220;kill them all&#8221; was used by critics to justify messages encouraging service members to refuse certain orders, suggesting the strike and follow-up actions may have been unlawful.<\/p>\n<p>However, according to multiple anonymous U.S. officials cited by the New york Times, Hegseth ordered a lethal strike on the drug-smuggling venezuelan boat but did not give further instructions if some targets survived the initial missile strike. It was Admiral Frank Bradley who authorized follow-up strikes aimed at eliminating survivors and sinking the vessel, without additional orders from Hegseth.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Times also notes that Hegseth made no oral directives beyond his written orders and that the original Post report lacked critically important context. In response,President Donald Trump expressed confidence in Hegseth&#8217;s statement that he did not order the killing of survivors,while Hegseth publicly supported Admiral Bradley&#8217;s actions and professionalism.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Congress is investigating the incident to determine the facts, with Senate Armed Services Commitee Chair roger Wicker seeking review of all available audio and video from the strike to ensure proper oversight. the situation remains under examination amid concerns over the legality and conduct of the military operation.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A new report from The New York Times casts doubt upon The Washington Post&rsquo;s claim that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth called for an attack to kill survivors of a Sept. 2 attack on narcotics traffickers in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n<p>Such an attack &mdash; which would be illegal &mdash; had been used by critics of the administration to <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >justify recent videos telling service members<\/a> they could refuse certain orders.<\/p>\n<p>The Thursday report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2025\/11\/28\/hegseth-kill-them-all-survivors-boat-strike\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Washington Post<\/a> said there was a &ldquo;spoken directive&rdquo; from Hegseth to, in one source&rsquo;s words, &ldquo;kill everybody.&rdquo; (It was phrased as &ldquo;kill them all&rdquo; in the headline.)<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Hegseth&rsquo;s order, which has not been previously reported, adds another dimension to the campaign against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-biden-administration-is-turning-the-border-into-a-graveyard-for-illegal-immigrants\/\" title=\"The Biden Administration Is Turning The B... Into A Graveyard For Illegal Immigrants\">suspected drug traffickers<\/a>. Some current and former U.S. officials and law-of-war experts have said that the Pentagon&rsquo;s lethal campaign &mdash; which has killed more than 80 people to date &mdash; is unlawful and may expose those most directly involved to future prosecution,&rdquo; the outlet noted, adding that a &ldquo;Special Operations commander overseeing the Sept. 2 attack&hellip; ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth&rsquo;s instructions, two people familiar with the matter said.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>However, a Monday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/12\/01\/us\/hegseth-drug-boat-strike-order-venezuela.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> from The New York Times threw this narrative into doubt, with numerous unnamed officials saying that Hegseth ordered a lethal strike against the Venezuelan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/crime-expert-warns-new-south-american-gang-violent-tren-de-aragua-preying-rural-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tren de Aragua<\/a> boat, but no follow-up action.<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"stnvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadScript(src) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=src; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.async=true; \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.body.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadScript(\"https:\/\/embed.sendtonews.com\/player3\/embedcode.js?fk=s28Az7AY\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #stnvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#stnvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;According to five U.S. officials, who spoke separately and on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter that is under investigation, Mr. Hegseth, ahead of the Sept. 2 attack, ordered a strike that would kill the people on the boat and destroy the vessel and its purported cargo of drugs,&rdquo; the paper reported.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;But, each official said, Mr. Hegseth&rsquo;s directive did not specifically address what should happen if a first missile turned out not to fully accomplish all of those things. And, the officials said, his order was not a response to surveillance footage showing that at least two people on the boat survived the first blast,&rdquo; the report added.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Admiral [Frank] Bradley ordered the initial missile strike and then several follow-up strikes that killed the initial survivors and sank the disabled boat. As that operation unfolded, they said, Mr. Hegseth did not give any further orders to him,&rdquo; the report continued.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the report, two unnamed officials &ldquo;described a meeting before the attack at which Mr. Hegseth had briefed Special Operations Forces commanders on his execute order to engage the boat with lethal force&rdquo; and said &ldquo;Mr. Hegseth made no oral directive at the meeting that went beyond the written order.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Post article did not provide context on when Mr. Hegseth gave what its sources described as a spoken order to kill everyone,&rdquo; The New York Times noted.<\/p>\n<p>The New York Times&rsquo; article comes a day after the White House gave Hegseth a vote of confidence, with President Donald Trump saying &ldquo;Pete said he did not order the death of those two men&rdquo; who were allegedly clinging to the boat.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wapos-latest-ice-lie-bad-official-dhs-x-account-asks-people-sleep-night-tears-school-teacher-story-apart-point-point\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">over at The Washington Post<\/a>, Monday brought a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2025\/12\/01\/hegseth-caine-boat-strikes-caribbean\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report<\/a> that officials within Congress and the Pentagon had become &ldquo;increasingly concerned that the Trump administration intends to scapegoat the military officer who directed U.S. forces to kill two survivors of a targeted strike on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/suspected-drug-smugglers-kill-us-agent-in-puerto-rico\/\" title=\"Suspected Drug Smugglers ... US Agent in Puerto Rico\">suspected drug smugglers<\/a> in Latin America, as lawmakers made initial moves to investigate whether the attack constituted a war crime.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>However, Hegseth attempted to shut this speculation down in a post in support of the admiral.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Let&rsquo;s make one thing crystal clear:<\/p>\n<p>Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made &mdash; on the September 2 mission and all others since.<\/p>\n<p>America is fortunate to have such men protecting&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PeteHegseth\/status\/1995643490152128919?\">December 1, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s make one thing crystal clear: Admiral Mitch Bradley is an American hero, a true professional, and has my 100% support. I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made &mdash; on the September 2 mission and all others since,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/will-never-back-trump-hegseth-refuse-yield-national-guardsmen-shot-sending-500-troops-dc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hegseth<\/a> said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;America is fortunate to have such men protecting us.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The reports come as both houses of Congress look into the Sept. 2 strike and who gave what orders. <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2025\/12\/01\/politics\/congress-boat-strike-demand-answers-briefing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CNN<\/a> reported Monday that Senate Armed Services Committee Chair <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/senate-confirms-former-fox-news-star-jeanine-pirro-50-45-vote\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Roger Wicker<\/a> of Mississippi had talked to Hegseth and confirmed there was a second strike. He said they were looking to get footage of the incident before further discussion.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have that information, but I do think we&rsquo;ll get that information, and we&rsquo;re certainly going to have available to us all of the audio and all of the video. At that point, I&rsquo;ll be able to have a more informed conversation,&rdquo; Wicker said of a second strike.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to conduct oversight, and we&rsquo;re going to try to get to the facts.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent New York Times report challenges The Washington Post&#8217;s assertion that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered an attack to kill survivors of a September 2 strike on drug traffickers in the Caribbean. This alleged order-considered illegal-had been cited by critics to justify videos encouraging service members to refuse certain commands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2516525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-12-02T083323.991.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[45173,36497,15823,32171,7115],"class_list":["post-2516524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-hegseth","tag-media-critique","tag-nyt","tag-political-commentary","tag-wapo"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2025-12-02T083323.991.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2516524"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2516528,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2516524\/revisions\/2516528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2516525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2516524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2516524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2516524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}