White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that the commander of U.S. Special Operations Command acted “within his authority and the law” when striking an alleged drug boat a second time on Sept. 2 after the first strike left survivors.

The White House has scrambled in recent days to respond to reporting that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered an elite military unit to kill everyone on board an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in early September, leading the commander to send a second strike that killed survivors from the first attack.

The Washington Post first reported Hegseth’s order and the second strike on Friday.

Speaking to reporters in the press briefing room, Leavitt confirmed that Hegseth authorized Admiral Frank M. Bradley, commander of U.S. Special Ope

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