DEMS PRESSURE HEGSETH: Democrats are seeking to ramp up pressure on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the admiral who oversaw strikes on an alleged drug-smuggling boat gave a briefing to lawmakers Thursday.
Navy Adm. Frank Bradley denied Hegseth gave an order to "kill everybody" on the boat in the Caribbean, as The Washington Post reported last week, during his briefing with members of the Senate and House Intelligence committees.
"Adm. Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, not to give no quarter or to kill them all. He was given an order that, of course, was written down in great detail, as our military always does," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters.
Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, gave the same account.
But that hasn't settled concerns from members of Congress about the strike, and Democrats are calling for a deeper investigation.
Himes said he's "deeply" troubled after seeing the video of the strikes that the military carried out on the boat on Sept. 2. He said U.S. forces clearly targeted survivors in the second strike who posed no threat to national security.
"The fact is that we killed two people who were in deep distress and had neither the means nor obviously the intent to continue their mission," he said.
Democrats are now pressing for a more detailed accounting of Hegseth's role in the strike. The Pentagon chief has distanced himself from the incident while defending Bradley's order to conduct an additional strike on the boat.
"I watched that first strike live. As you can imagine, at the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do, so I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs. So I moved on to my next meeting," Hegseth told reporters during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting.
He said he didn't learn about the second strike until a "couple" hours later.
Democrats have called for Hegseth to testify under oath on what happened and give more details about his actions and movements on the day of the strikes. Some have accused him of possibly committing a war crime in authorizing an additional strike.
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) said Thursday he will file articles of impeachment against Hegseth, pointing to the two controversies surrounding him — his use of the messaging app Signal to discuss a strike on Houthi militants in Yemen and the boat strikes.
A report from the Pentagon's inspector general publicly released Thursday found Hegseth put U.S. troops' lives at risk and violated department policy in using the app on his personal phone to discuss the attack plan.
"[Hegseth] has committed war crimes," Thanedar told Fox News host Josh Breslow. "He must go."
The Hill's Alexander Bolton reports Republican senators are wrestling over Hegseth's leadership, seeing him as a political drag on the president but not openly opposing him as long as he has Trump's support.
Bradley's briefing on Thursday bolstered Hegseth's defense, but Democratic efforts to conduct oversight of the Pentagon chief are far from over.
▪ The Hill: Hegseth ousted Navy admiral who raised concerns about boat strikes.
▪ The Hill: Military blows up alleged drug boat in East Pacific, killing four.
PIPE BOMB SUSPECT ARRESTED: A Virginia man has been charged with two counts in connection with allegations that he planted pipe bombs outside the Democratic and Republican national committee offices the day before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
The charges end a five-year search for the suspect, identified as 30-year-old Brian Cole. He faces charges of transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials.
The case was unsolved for years as officials struggled to identify a suspect seen on video footage who was wearing a hoodie and a mask that largely shielded his face.
Cole's arrest is viewed as a major victory for the FBI after years of criticism over its inability to make an arrest in the case.
▪ Axios: Bank, cell records led FBI to suspect.
TRUMP OFFICIAL INVESTIGATED: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has launched an investigation into Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte after he opened several probes looking into adversaries of the president.
Senate Democrats asked the nonpartisan government watchdog to open an investigation last month, and the GAO said it took the case based on a referral.
Pulte has referred at least four different Democrats to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution — New York Attorney General Letitia James, Sen. Adam Schiff (Calif.), Rep. Eric Swalwell (Calif.) and Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook.
Only James has faced charges, but the case against her was dismissed last month after a judge ruled the U.S. attorney who brought the charges was improperly appointed to the role. A grand jury declined to indict James a second time on Thursday.
The Senate Democrats asked the GAO to investigate the processes the FHFA has in place for criminal referrals and whether Pulte made any changes to those policies.
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