OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
12:59 PM – Wednesday, December 10, 2025
Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, announced on Tuesday that the committee plans to conclude its bipartisan investigation into a September 2nd U.S. military operation in the Caribbean.
Rogers (R-Ala.) was asked by reporters on Tuesday about what the probe’s next steps would be.
“It’s done,” he responded. “I’ve got all the answers I needed.”
The probe was launched in late November, shortly after his counterpart in the Senate, Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), initiated a similar investigation.
The military operation had involved an initial strike on a vessel accused of smuggling drugs from Venezuela, which left two survivors in the water. Another follow-up strike then killed those survivors, prompting Democrat scrutiny over “potential violations of international law.”
During the announcement, Rogers assured that there is no need for further inquiry after briefings from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Adm. Frank Bradley, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, who testified that no explicit “kill them all” order was given and that the survivors appeared to be attempting to right the vessel to continue operations.
Although Admiral Bradley spent hours last week facing intense questioning from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Wicker — the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee — has remained largely silent in public about the panel’s ongoing investigation.
Democrats have consistently maintained that the investigation should have been broadened to examine additional evidence, including unredacted video of the strikes and the full chain of orders issued by Secretary Hegseth in the lead-up to the operation.
Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.), a former Army Captain, said on Tuesday that Holsey was “forthcoming” in one classified session with him and Wicker, though there was “still more to be gleaned.”
Over the weekend, Hegseth also strongly defended the Trump administration’s war on narcoterrorism in a 40-minute speech at the Reagan National Forum — as part of the Department of War’s “peace through strength” vision.
So far, there have been at least 22 military strikes on purported drug-trafficking boats, resulting in over 80 deaths. The Trump White House maintains the operations are lawful under a declared “non-international armed conflict” with cartels, aimed at curbing fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine flows that kill tens of thousands of Americans annually.
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