Trump says US is in 'armed conflict' with drug cartels after ordering strikes in the Caribbean

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in an "armed conflict” with them, according to a Trump administration memo obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, following recent U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

The memo appears to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers, with Trump effectively declaring that trafficking of drugs into the United States amounts to armed conflict requiring the use of military force — a new rationale for past and future actions.

“The President determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations,” the memo says. Trump directed the Pentagon to “conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict.”

“The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations,” the memo says.

Besides signaling a potential new moment in Trump's stated “America First” agenda that favors non-intervention overseas, the declaration raises stark questions about how far the White House intends to use its war powers and if Congress will exert its authority to approve — or ban — such military actions.

“The United States is taking a much more dramatic step — one that I think is a very, very far stretch of international law and a dangerous one," said Matthew Waxman, who was a national security official in the George W. Bush administration. It "means the United States can target members of those cartels with lethal force. It means the United States can capture and detain them without trial.”

The U.S. military last month carried out three deadly strikes against boats in the Caribbean that the administration accused of ferrying drugs. At least two of those operations were carried out on vessels that originated from Venezuela.

Those strikes followed up a buildup of U.S. maritime forces in the Caribbean unlike any seen in recent times. The Navy’s presence in the region — eight warships with over 5,000 sailors and Marines — has been pretty stable for weeks, according to two defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.

The memo did not include a timestamp, but it references a Sept. 15 U.S. strike that “resulted in the destruction of the vessel, the illicit narcotics, and the death of approximately 3 unlawful combatants.”

“As we have said many times, the President acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores, and he is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans,” the White House said.

Pentagon officials briefed senators on the strikes Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The Pentagon referred questions to the White House.

What the Trump administration laid out at the classified briefing at the Capitol was perceived by several senators as pursuing a new legal framework that raised questions particularly regarding the role of Congress in authorizing any such action, that person said.

Pentagon officials also briefed House staffers last week on the strikes, according to another person who was briefed on the meeting and similarly spoke on condition of anonymity.

The memo, which was reported earlier by The New York Times, lays out a rationale seen both as the administration's justification for the military strikes it has already taken on the boats in the Caribbean — which have raised concerns from lawmakers as potentially unlawful — as well as any action to come.

A White House official who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity said the memo was sent to Congress on Sept. 18 and does not convey any new information. The person familiar with the Senate briefing said it was transmitted this week.

Trump has designated several Latin American drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, and the administration had previously justified the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

Pentagon officials could not provide a list of the designated terrorist organizations at the center of the conflict, a matter that was a major source of frustration for some of the lawmakers who were briefed this week, according to one of the people familiar with the briefings.

While “friendly foreign nations have made significant efforts to combat these organizations,” the memo said, the groups “are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels.” The memo refers to cartel members as “unlawful combatants.”

The Trump administration is trying to justify the use of military force against drug cartels in the same way the Bush administration justified the war against al-Qaida following the Sept. 11 attacks, said Waxman, who served in the State and Defense Departments and on the National Security Council under Bush.

Bush, however, had authorization from Congress, unlike Trump. The Trump administration is arguing that it no longer has to consider the individual circumstances of using force, said Waxman, who now chairs Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program.

“It’s basically saying, ‘We don’t have to engage in that kind of case-by-case decision-making,’” Waxman said. “All of these vessels that are carrying enemy personnel can be targeted, whether they’re headed towards the United States or not.”

Waxman said he expects more strikes and “we’ll see if the United States takes the next big step and engages in lethal force or armed force on the territory of another state.”

Lawmakers of both major political parties have pressed Trump to seek war powers authority from Congress for operations against alleged drug traffickers. Several senators and human rights groups have questioned the legality of the strikes, calling them potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said drug cartels are “despicable” but the Trump administration has offered “no credible legal justification, evidence or intelligence for these strikes.”

Reed, a former Army officer, said “every American should be alarmed that their President has decided he can wage secret wars against anyone he calls an enemy.”

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin, Ben Finley and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump walks from Marine One after arriving on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House before signing an executive order regarding childhood cancer and the use of AI, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

PARIS (AP) — Ukrainian fighter pilots and troops took pride of place in France's national Bastille Day celebrations Tuesday as a massive parade showcased support for Ukraine and symbolically flexed European military muscle.

On President Emmanuel Macron’s last Bastille Day as president, he hosted around 30 other leaders for an event that appeared aimed at showing both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump that Europe is united and stepping up to defend itself.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was given an ovation from the assembled European leaders as he arrived and his country's troops got the biggest cheers of the day from crowds on the tree-lined Champs-Elysees avenue. Zelenskyy and Macron shared repeated hugs at the end of the parade.

France's biggest national holiday coincided with raging forest fires and a red-alert heat wave that forced the cancellation of traditional fireworks and firefighters’ balls.

Here’s what to know about Bastille Day this year.

It’s celebrated on July 14 because that’s the day Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in 1789, helping spark the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy and sent King Louis XVI and his queen Marie-Antoinette to the guillotine.

Bastille Day holiday is central to the French calendar and national identity. Presidents use it to vaunt France’s accomplishments, mayors across the country host village festivals and families gather for holiday meals.

The centerpiece is the Paris parade beneath the Napoleon-era Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs-Elysees avenue, which inspired Trump to stage his own parade last year.

A huge French tricolor flag hanging below the monumental arch rippled in the wind as a military band on horseback rode down the tree-lined avenue followed by Macron standing in an open military vehicle to kick off the parade.

Spectators wore hats and brandished small fans to fend off the heat as a formation of air force planes roared overhead trailing red, white and blue smoke.

Zelenskyy joined Macron along with some 30 other heads of state or government in the special viewing area for the parade.

Ukrainian troops marched along the cobblestoned avenue, and Ukrainian co-pilots trained in France were on board two Mirage 2000B fighter jets alongside French air force pilots.

“I feel very proud for the fact that they’re here and for the fact that we’re marching alongside of them and I think it as well it will create better ties with them and NATO and to be a part of that history,” 21-year-old U.K. soldier Lance Cpl. Patrick Risso said of the Ukrainian involvement.

On the ground, the parade opened with around 500 troops from the ″coalition of the willing″ grouping of countries that have pledged to help with Ukraine’s postwar security.

Macron said Monday night that it’s a ″great honor″ to welcome to the parade ″all the partners in the coalition of the willing and our Ukrainian friends who will march with us and illustrate its strategic reawakening and our unity.″

The foreign fighters in combat fatigues and dress uniforms marched with their national flags, in a break with tradition — usually only one foreign country is invited to take part in the parade. It was the first time in some 20 years that British troops took part. Ukrainian forces got the loudest cheers from the crowd.

In the skies, aircraft from Germany, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Poland, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Italy were taking part.

The parade set a record in terms of number of troops: The Paris military governor said 7,600 troops were marching this year, compared with 5,810 in 2025. Thousands of soldiers started taking up positions early Tuesday, many taking selfies as helicopters flew overhead.

Forest fires are raging in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris and in areas of southern France, as the country suffers through its third heat wave this year.

As a result, authorities in some regions — including the French capital — banned fireworks and firefighters' balls customarily held around Bastille Day.

The Eiffel Tower's fireworks and drone show was maintained, however, and held Monday night, including a drone formation shaped like the Statue of Liberty — a gift from France to the United States that arrived in New York in 1885 to mark the U.S. centennial, the end of the American Civil War, and friendship between the two countries.

Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.

French soldiers march during the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue, in Paris, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

Jets from the acrobatic Patrouille de France fly during the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, centre right, greets Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy before the start of the annual Bastille Day military parade in Paris, France, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (Benoit Tessier/Pool Photo via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, stands in the command car with General Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces Fabien Mandon during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (Benoit Tessier/Pool Photo via AP)

Fireworks and drones illuminate the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during the eve of Bastille Day celebrations late Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

Fireworks and drones illuminate the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during the eve of Bastille Day celebrations late Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

Fireworks and drones illuminate the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during the eve of Bastille Day celebrations, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his traditional address to the armed forces on the eve of the Bastille Day parade at the Ministry of Defense in Paris, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, Pool)

French President Emmanuel Macron greets senior military officers after his traditional address to the armed forces on the eve of the Bastille Day parade at the Ministry of Defense in Paris, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, Pool)