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'This Is Murder': Trump Bombs Another Boat in Caribbean
"The US government must be held accountable," said Amnesty International USA.
Oct 03, 2025
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on social media Friday that they bombed another boat in the Caribbean—at least the fourth alleged drug-smuggling vessel attacked by the US military since early September.
Critics, including congressional Democrats, legal scholars, and human rights groups, have stressed that even if any of the boats recently bombed by the Trump administration were trafficking drugs, the strikes still violate international and federal law. Such criticism has not deterred the administration.
Hegseth, who leads what Trump renamed the Department of War, said Friday that "earlier this morning, on President Trump's orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with designated terrorist organizations. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed in the strike, and no US forces were harmed in the operation."
"The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics—headed to America to poison our people," wrote the Pentagon chief, including a video of the bombing, but no evidence that the boat was involved in running drugs.
Hegseth claimed that "our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route. These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!"
Trump similarly said, without offering any proof, that "a boat loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 TO 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE was stopped, early this morning off the Coast of Venezuela, from entering American Territory."
Responding to the latest lethal bombing, Amnesty International USA declared: "This is murder. The US government must be held accountable."
Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who served as chief White House ethics counsel under former President George W. Bush, said, "Again, this is a violation of international law, and without the consent of Congress a violation of federal law."
The strikes come amid Trump's "aggressive pursuit" of a Nobel Peace Prize. Nodding to this, Congressman Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) wrote on social media Friday, "To President Trump: They don't give Nobel Peace Prizes to people who murder civilians without a trial."
The first confirmed bombing, on September 2, killed 11 people. The second and third, on September 15 and 19, each killed three. In at least one case, a woman who identified herself as the wife of one of the men killed said her husband was a fisher.
Friday's bombing followed the leak of a confidential notice that the administration sent to multiple congressional committees this week, attempting to legally justify the bombings. It says in part, "The president determined these cartels are nonstate armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States."
Multiple legal experts and members of Congress publicly weighed in on the memo, including Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI), who said that "every American should be alarmed that President Trump has decided he can wage secret wars against anyone he labels an enemy."
After the Friday attack, Tess Bridgeman, co-editor-in-chief of Just Security and a nonresident senior fellow at New York University School of Law, emphasized that "if it can happen at sea, it can happen anywhere."
"Trump has offered no definition or limiting principle for who can be labeled a 'terrorist' and summarily killed," she added. "And no plausible legal theory for why an armed conflict exists."
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Sanders Backs Progressive Michigander Donavan McKinney for Congress
"He understands the struggles working-class communities are facing in Detroit and across the country because he's lived those struggles himself," Sanders said.
Jun 17, 2025
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Tuesday endorsed Donavan McKinney, a progressive primary challenger to a Democratic congressman who represents one of Michigan’s poorest districts in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sanders (I-Vt.) released a statement announcing his support for McKinney, a state representative who seeks to oust incumbent U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar in next year’s Democratic primary for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.
"He understands the struggles working-class communities are facing in Detroit and across the country because he's lived those struggles himself," Sanders said.
McKinney is the political director for Michigan's Service Employees International Union, the largest healthcare union in the state. In 2022, he was elected to the state Legislature, where he has represented a district with a median income of less than $20,000.
As a state legislator, McKinney has led efforts to address the high cost of living and poor living conditions of those in his district. In 2024, he supported Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's expansion of free pre-K for Michigan children and helped to secure funding to replace the state's lead pipe infrastructure. He has also called out utility companies, like DTE Energy, that have continuously hiked costs and reaped massive profits.
McKinney has honed his message against corporate control of politics, closely aligning himself with Sanders' message about "Fighting Oligarchy." McKinney has also received endorsements from the progressive group Justice Democrats and from Sanders' close progressive ally and fellow Michigander Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
"I know when it comes to real representation, Michigan's 13th District deserves better," Tlaib said.
McKinney has contrasted his working-class upbringing with that of Thanedar, a former pharmaceutical executive who is estimated to be worth $41 million, making him the 28th richest member of Congress.
While running for Congress, Thanedar pledged to "never take a dime" of corporate money. But according to The Detroit News, he received at least $36,000 from political action committees (PACs) backed by some of America's largest auto manufacturers, tech firms, and energy companies, including DTE.
According to his website, McKinney "is committed to getting big money out of politics, and elevating the voices of voters over the influence of super PACs and corporations."
After the 2024 election saw unprecedented influence from billionaires like Elon Musk to help elect Donald Trump and other Republicans, McKinney co-introduced a bill to ban utility monopolies and government contractors from making political donations in Michigan.
Citing reports that Thanedar spent over $5 million of his own money to fund his campaign in 2022, McKinney has described him as "a multimillionaire who spent millions to buy his seat in Congress," one who has "more in common with Donald Trump and Elon Musk" than with residents of his district.
"We deserve a Democratic Party that leads the fight against the billionaires robbing us blind, that stands up to corporate PACs," McKinney said in the video announcing his campaign.
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After Thanedar Backs Off, Green Files New Article of Impeachment Against Trump
Rep. Al Green of Texas accused Trump of "flouting of federal court orders, flouting the separation of powers, undermining the independence of the federal judiciary, and flouting the constitutional mandate of due process."
May 16, 2025
After Democratic Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar earlier this week opted not to move forward with an effort to force the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on impeaching U.S. President Donald Trump, another lawmaker on Thursday filed a single article of impeachment against Trump, calling him a threat to democracy.
In a Thursday statement, Rep. Al Green of Texas, a Democrat, said that he "announced on the floor of the House of Representatives that I have filed H.Res.415 to impeach President Donald John Trump for condoning the flouting of federal court orders, flouting the separation of powers, undermining the independence of the federal judiciary, and flouting the constitutional mandate of due process."
In a letter, Green elaborated that he felt compelled to move forward with the impeachment push because he cannot "in good conscience... wait until the next election to deal with authoritarian President Donald John Trump's pre-election threat to American democracy that has become a post-election assault on our government."
Green's article of impeachment alleges that Trump is "devolving democracy within the United States into authoritarianism with himself (Donald John Trump) as an authoritarian president."
His resolution states that through Trump's conduct and his "violation" of the presidential oath of office, in which the president swears to "faithfully execute the office of president of the United States" and to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States" in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution, he has "engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors."
In his letter, Green said that he would "call for a vote to impeach authoritarian President Donald John Trump at a time to be determined."
This year, Green has repeatedly expressed his intention to file articles of impeachment against Trump.
Green was censured earlier this year after disrupting Trump's joint address to Congress, heckling the president and telling him he had "no mandate to cut Medicaid."
Thanedar, who last month filed seven articles of impeachment against Trump, backed off from forcing a vote after Democrats privately worried that it would distract from efforts to highlight potential cuts to Medicaid and other programs as part of the Republican megabill currently making it ways through Congress, according to Politico. Publicly, Thenader said he was holding off after speaking with colleagues and that he intends to add to the impeachment articles.
The group Free Speech for People, which is mounting a campaign to drum up support for impeaching Trump again, boosted both Thanedar and Green's impeachment pushes on social media.
Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives during his first term, but in both cases he was acquitted by the Senate. Both chambers of Congress are now controlled by Trump's Republican Party.
In response to Green's resolution, the White House assistant press secretary told the Houston Chronicle, in part, on Friday: "Every action taken by President Trump and his administration is fully lawful and firmly rooted in the will of the American people. President Trump is doing exactly what he promised: securing our border, bringing in trillions of dollars in investment to America, and restoring common sense leadership."
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