Welcome to meet the press now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington where defense secretary Pete

Hegsseth is under increasing pressure over multiple controversies surrounding his decision-making as

leader of the Pentagon over both the deadly second strike on that suspected drug boat in the Caribbean

and his handling of classified military information in a group chat. Today, the chairman of the

Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commander who ordered that double-tap strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat back in September, were on Capitol Hill today briefing lawmakers.

As members of Congress demand answers in increased transparency about the legality of that second strike, which some have said could be a war crime.

Following that closed-door briefing, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee expressed deep concern after seeing the video of the incident.

But what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service.

Any American who sees the video that I saw will see the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors.

Bad guys. Bad guys. But attacking shipwrecked sailors. Now there's a whole set of contextual

items that the Admiral explained. Yes, they were carrying drugs. They were not in the position

to continue their mission in any way. We don't, we don't,

people will someday see this video and they will see that that video shows if you don't have the

broader context, an attack on shipwrecked sailors. But Republicans like Tom Cotton, the top

Republican on the Senate Intel Committee, disagreed,

saying the video showed the strike was justified.

The first strike, the second strike, and the third and the fourth strike on September 2nd

were entirely lawful and needful, and they were exactly what we'd expect our military commanders

to do. Were there survivors in the boat? What exactly did you see in terms of the video of

the second strike? Were there survivors? I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat,

loaded with drugs, bound for the United States, back over so they could stay in the fight.

Speaking yesterday in the Oval Office, President Trump said he would support releasing the video of that controversial follow-up strike.

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