WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon knew there were survivors after a September attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea and the U.S. military still carried out a follow-up strike, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The rationale for the second strike was that it was needed to sink the vessel, according to the people familiar with the matter who spoke Wednesday on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly. The Trump administration says all 11 people aboard were killed.
What remains unclear was who ordered the strikes and whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was involved, one of the people said. The details are becoming crucial as lawmakers have launched investigations and are seeking to determine whether the U.S. acted lawfully during its military operations.
The questions are expected to emerge Thursday during a classified congressional briefing with the commander that the Trump administration says ordered the second strike, Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley.
The Pentagon did not respond Wednesday to a request for comment about the reported new details about the Sept. 2 attack.
Hegseth is under growing scrutiny over the department’s strikes on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, and in particular the follow-on strike that reportedly killed survivors. Some legal experts and lawmakers say that strike would have violated peacetime laws and those governing armed conflict.
Hegseth has defended the second strike as emerging in the “fog of war,” saying during a Cabinet meeting this week at the White House that he didn’t see any survivors but also “didn’t stick around” for the rest of the mission.
The defense secretary has also said that Bradley, as the admiral in charge, “made the right call” in ordering the second hit, which he “had complete authority to do.”
President Donald Trump was asked Wednesday whether he would release the video of the follow-on strike, as leading Democratic lawmakers have demanded. He replied: “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have we’d certainly release. No problem,” he told reporters.
The Trump administration has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels, even though Congress has not approved any authorization for the use of military force in the region.
A strike later in September has led to the family of a Colombian man filing a formal challenge to the premier human rights watchdog in the Americas, arguing that his death was an extrajudicial killing. The petition from the family of Alejandro Carranza says the military bombed his fishing boat on Sept. 15 in violation of human rights conventions.
The follow-on strike on Sept. 2 was on the first vessel hit in what the Trump administration calls a counterdrug campaign that has grown to over 20 known strikes and more than 80 dead.
The information about the follow-on strike was not presented to lawmakers during a classified briefing in September, in the days after the incident. It was disclosed later, one of the people said, and the explanation provided by the department has been broadly unsatisfactory to various members of the national security committees in Congress.
In a rare flex of bipartisan oversight, the Armed Services committees in both the House and Senate swiftly announced investigations into the strikes as lawmakers of both parties raise questions.
Bradley is scheduled to appear Thursday in a classified briefing with the panels' two Republican chairmen and two ranking Democratic members.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rob Reiner’s younger son, Nick Reiner, was in custody Monday after being booked for what investigators believe was the fatal stabbing of the director-actor and his wife at their Los Angeles home a day earlier, authorities said.
It was not immediately clear what charges Nick Reiner, 32, would face. Online records show he remained in jail on Monday. Police Chief Jim McDonnell said he is being held on $4 million bail.
Representatives for Reiner's family did not immediately respond to a request for comment and it wasn’t immediately clear if Nick Reiner had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Nick Reiner has spoken publicly of his struggles with addiction. By 18, he had cycled in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness and relapses in between. Rob and Nick Reiner explored their difficult relationship and Nick Reiner’s struggles with drugs in a semi-autobiographical 2016 film, “ Being Charlie.”
Rob and Michele Singer Reiner were found dead Sunday at their home in Los Angeles, and investigators believe they suffered stab wounds, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official, who was briefed on the investigation, confirmed that Nick Reiner was being held but could not publicly discuss the details and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m. and found a 78-year-old man and 68-year-old woman dead inside. Reiner turned 78 in March.
Detectives with the Robbery Homicide Division were investigating an “apparent homicide” at Reiner’s home, police Capt. Mike Bland said Sunday.
Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally,” and “The Princess Bride.”
His role as Michael “Meathead” Stivic in Norman Lear’s 1970s TV classic “All in the Family,” as a liberal foil to O’Connor’s Archie Bunker, catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.
The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner was married to photographer Michele Singer Reiner since 1989. The two met while he was directing “When Harry Met Sally” and had three children together: Nick, Jake and Romy.
Relatives of Lear, the legendary producer who died in 2023, said their deaths left them bereft.
“Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” said a Lear family statement. “Norman would have wanted to remind us that Rob and Michele spent every breath trying to make this country a better place, and they pursued that through their art, their activism, their philanthropy, and their love for family and friends.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called it a devastating loss for the city.
“Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Bass said in a statement. “An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”
Reiner was previously married to actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. He adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at age 98 and Marshall died in 2018.
Killings are rare in the Brentwood neighborhood. The scene is about a mile from the home where O.J. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994.
__
Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.
Rob Reiner, from left, Michele Singer Reiner, Romy Reiner, Nick Reiner, Maria Gilfillan, and Jake Reiner arrive at the premiere of "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues" on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Flowers cover the Walk of Fame star for Rob Reiner Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
ADDITION ADDS MAIDEN NAME: FILE - Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner arrive on the red carpet at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors gala dinner, Dec. 2, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)
CORRECTS IDENTITY OF NICK AND JAKE REINER - FILE - Honoree Rob Reiner, second left, poses with his wife Michele, left, and children Jake, center, Romy, and Nick at the 41st annual Chaplin Award Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, April 28, 2014, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton speaks near Rob Reiner's residence Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
FILE - Rob Reiner and Michele Reiner arrive on the red carpet at the State Department for the Kennedy Center Honors gala dinner, Dec. 2, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf, File)
FILE - Rob Reiner arrives at the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network's Respect Awards, in Beverly Hills, Calif., Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
A police officer blocks off a street near Rob Reiner's residence Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
FILE - Honoree Rob Reiner, second left, poses with his wife Michele, left, and children Nick, center, Romy, and Jake at the 41st Annual Chaplin Award Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, April 28, 2014, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
