Hegseth and Rubio expected to brief ‘Gang of Eight’ as Trump refuses to rule out sending troops to Venezuela – US politics live

Key Highlights

• I wouldn’t say that one way or the other,” he said. Asked if he would consider adopting a similar strategy to that taken with Venezuela against Mexico and Colombia, Trump replied: “Yeah, I would.
• Sure.
• I would.”The US military has also built up the presence of warships in the Caribbean, including an aircraft carrier strike group and a nuclear submarine. Adm Alvin Holsey, the outgoing commander of the US military’s southern command, which oversees American troops in Latin America, is also expected to brief a separate group of House and Senate lawmakers on Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said. Holsey will step down on Friday, less than two months after the surprise announcement of his early retirement, which came just over a month into the Pentagon’s accelerating campaign against suspected drug boats.
• The strikes have resulted in the deaths of nearly 90 people and raised concerns among Democrats and legal experts. Trump’s military operations have been under increased scrutiny since a 2 September decision to launch a second strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean. The video of the attack, viewed by lawmakers last week, showed two men clinging to wreckage after their vessel was destroyed in the first strike, according to sources familiar with the imagery.
• They were shirtless, unarmed and carried no visible communications equipment. The defense department’s Law of War Manual forbids attacks on combatants who are incapacitated, unconscious or shipwrecked, as long as they abstain from hostilities and do not attempt to escape.