Lawmakers increasingly concerned about boat strikes in the Caribbean

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle

MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle

Senate, Washington, Ms Now, Policy, News, President, Msnbc, Politics, Congress, Government, Versant Media, Versant

4.5 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Congress sounds the alarm over the Trump administration's boat strikes, raising questions about a possible war crime. Then, a Tennessee district that went double digits for Trump may be in play for Democrats in an unexpectedly close House race. Plus, a Federal appeals court disqualifies the President's former attorney as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Tonight, pressure on the Pentagon.
0:04.0	Congress sounds the alarm over the Trump administration's vote strikes, raising questions about a possible war crime.
0:10.0	Then an unexpectedly close house race in one of the reddest states in America, why a Tennessee district that went double digits for Trump may be in play for Democrats.
0:20.0	Plus, a federal appeals court disqualifies the president's former attorney as New Jersey's
0:26.2	top prosecutor as the 11th hour gets underway on this Monday night.
0:34.5	Good evening once again. I'm Simone Sanders-send, in for Stephanie Rule. We are now
0:39.4	336 days away from the midterms. Congress is planning to investigate the administration's
0:45.6	boat strike in the Caribbean in early September and some lawmakers have suggested it may be a war crime.
0:51.9	According to the Post, quote, Defense secretary Pete Hegseth gave a spoken
0:55.7	directive according to two people with direct knowledge of the operation. The order was to kill
1:01.5	everyone, one of them said, unquote. Then when it became clear that two people survived, quote,
1:07.6	the special operations commander overseeing the September 2nd attack ordered a second
1:12.8	strike to comply with Heggsett's instructions to people familiar with the matter said.
1:18.0	That reporting is important because today White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt
1:21.5	acknowledged the second strike but said it was not Hegsseth who gave the order.
1:33.3	To be clear, does the administration deny that that second strike happened, or did it happen, and the administration denies that Secretary Hexseth gave the order?
1:37.3	The latter is true, Gabe, and I have a statement to read for you here.
1:41.3	President Trump and Secretary Hegsef have made it clear that
1:44.6	presidentially designated narco-terrorist groups are subject to lethal targeting in accordance
1:50.7	with the laws of war. With respect to the strikes in question on September 2nd, Secretary
1:56.2	Hegeseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.
2:05.9	The Washington Post reports that officials in Congress and the Pentagon are concerned the Trump administration intends to scapegoat Admiral Bradley.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 3 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of MS NOW, Stephanie Ruhle and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.