Trump administration cuts Democrats out of a briefing on US military strikes, top Senate Dem says
By Piper Hudspeth Blackburn, Natasha Bertrand, CNN
(CNN) — Trump administration briefed Republicans on Wednesday about US military strikes on suspected drug boats without telling Democratic members about the briefing, according to a top Senate Democrat and a source with direct knowledge of the incident.
Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner slammed the Trump administration for cutting out Democratic lawmakers Wednesday, calling the move “a partisan stunt” that “is a slap in the face to Congress’ war powers responsibilities and to the men and women who serve this country.”
During the briefing, administration officials showed the Republicans a classified Justice Department OLC memo outlining the administration’s legal justification for the strikes, which CNN first reported on earlier this month.
In a statement, Warner said, “shutting Democrats out of a briefing on U.S. military strikes and withholding the legal justification for those strikes from half the Senate is indefensible and dangerous.”
“Decisions about the use of American military force are not campaign strategy sessions, and they are not the private property of one political party,” he said. “For any administration to treat them that way erodes our national security and flies in the face of Congress’ constitutional obligation to oversee matters of war and peace.”
“It also sets a reckless and deeply troubling precedent,” the Virginia Democrat continued, adding that the administration should immediately provide Democrats the same briefing and the OLC opinion.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Warner’s comments come as the Trump administration accelerates its attacks against boats that they allege are involved in drug trafficking.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that the US military conducted another strike against a vessel in the Pacific Ocean that day, killing four people.
“This vessel, like all the others, was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth said in a post on X.
The action marks the 14th known US military strike on an alleged drug-smuggling vessel. The operations have killed 61 people aboard 15 total boats.
The Trump administration told CNN earlier this week that it has provided seven separate classified briefings on US military strikes on alleged drug boats.
But some lawmakers have said they have not received the information they want. One Democratic Senate aide told CNN that the administration “appears to be counting the same briefing given multiple times to certain staff or members (including in small groups.) So seven briefings is highly misleading.”
House Armed Services Committee members are expected to get a classified briefing from Pentagon officials on Thursday about the recent US military strikes on boats allegedly involved in drug trafficking, two sources told CNN earlier Wednesday.
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CNN’s Kaanita Iyer, Annie Grayer, Ali Main, Samantha Waldenberg and Alejandra Jaramillo contributed to this report.
