Trump confirms 5th ‘lethal’ attack on alleged drug boat off Venezuelan coast

President Trump said Tuesday he ordered another strike on a vessel off the coast of Venezuela, killing “six male narcoterrorists” and marking the fifth time he used lethal force to stop an alleged drug boat.

Mr. Trump also posted a video on Truth Social that appeared to show a speedboat exploding.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, was associated with illicit narcoterrorist networks, and was transiting along a known DTO route,” Mr. Trump wrote, using the acronym for Drug Trafficking Organization.

“The strike was conducted in International Waters and six male narcoterrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike. No U.S. Forces were harmed,” the president continued.

The bombing continues America’s war on drug boats.

The first, on Sept. 2, killed 11 people whom Mr. Trump labeled members of Tren de Aragua. Subsequent strikes on Sept. 15 and 19 also resulted in several deaths. Another strike on Oct. 3 hit a boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing four.

Overall, roughly 40 people have died in the strikes.

Following Tuesday’s strike, Jorge Rodríguez, president of Venezuela’s National Assembly and a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro, called on the press to combat U.S. “lies” that are being used to justify a possible invasion.

“The objective is not the search for the truth and much less fighting drug trafficking,” he said. It’s about “looking for the way to have an excuse for aggression.”

Democrats and several human rights groups have accused the Trump administration of exceeding its authority by striking suspected drug smuggling vessels in the southern Caribbean.

The White House insists the strikes were justified because the cartels are “nonstate armed groups” and their actions constitute an “armed attack against the United States.”

Earlier this month, Mr. Trump declared that America is at war with drug cartels, labeling them as terrorist organizations and their smugglers as “unlawful combatants.”

As part of that argument, Mr. Trump sent a memo to Congress saying America is “in noninternational armed conflict with designated terrorist organizations.”

“The president directed these actions consistent with his responsibility to protect Americans and the United States’ interests abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to his constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive to conduct foreign relations,” the memo said.

By declaring it an armed conflict, like with al-Qaida and other Islamist groups since 2001, the U.S. can lawfully kill enemy combatants, detain them indefinitely without trials and prosecute them in military tribunals.

Many Democrats have insisted the White House has no legal justification for the strikes and disputed its claims that it can justify the strike by declaring war against the drug cartels.

“Classifying a clear law enforcement mission as counterterrorism does not confer legal authority to target and kill civilians,” Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, wrote in a letter last month to Mr. Trump. The letter was co-signed by 24 Senate Democrats.

Sen. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat, worked on a war powers resolution to stop the Trump administration from using the military to conduct further strikes on alleged drug smuggling vessels without the consent of Congress.

But the Senate last week rejected the resolution.

The White House has claimed that Venezuela’s cocaine shipments contribute to the epidemic of overdose deaths in the U.S. and has accused the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, of facilitating drug trafficking. He has denied the claims, but the Trump administration has placed a $50 million bounty on his head for his arrest.