A video of a U.S. military strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean that killed two survivors of the initial attack shows “nothing remarkable,” the Republican who leads the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday, and he would not oppose its public release if the Pentagon were to declassify it.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, who backs President Donald Trump’s campaign against suspected drug smugglers, is partially aligning himself with Trump and top Democrats in favor of releasing the video of the Sept. 2 attack. It was the first in what has become a monthslong series of American strikes on vessels near Venezuela that the administration says were ferrying drugs. At least 87 people have been killed in 22 known strikes.
But Cotton, among the top lawmakers on national security committees who were briefed Thursday by the Navy admiral commanding those strikes, is splitting with Democrats over whether military personnel acted lawfully in carrying out a second strike to kill the two survivors. The nine others aboard the boat also were killed.
“I think it’s really important that this video be made public. It’s not lost on anyone, of course, that the interpretation of the video ... broke down precisely on party lines,” said Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He said he has spent “years looking at videos of lethal action taken, often in the terrorism context, and this video was profoundly shaking.”
When Trump was asked Wednesday whether he would release the video of that follow-on strike, he told reporters, “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have we’d certainly release. No problem." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a Fox News interview Saturday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California that officials were reviewing the video. “Whatever we were to decide to release, we'd have to be very responsible" about it.
“That boat was still a valid target,” Cotton said, arguing that releasing the video would prove that the two survivors of the initial strike remained a threat.
“It’s not gruesome. I didn’t find it distressing or disturbing,” he said, explaining why he does not have a problem with releasing all the footage. “It looks like any number of dozens of strikes we’ve seen on jeeps and pickup trucks in the Middle East over the years.” He added that “there's nothing remarkable on that video, in my opinion.”
The classified sessions on Capitol Hill came after The Washington Post reported that Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley had ordered a follow-on attack that killed those survivors, to comply with Hegseth’s demands. Bradley told lawmakers there was no “kill them all” order from Hegseth, but a video of the entire series of attacks left some lawmakers with serious questions. Legal experts have said killing survivors of a strike at sea could be a violation of the laws of military warfare.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, and Himes are among those who have seen the video and they disputed Cotton’s characterization.
“I have no doubt that these guys were involved in the running of drugs. … But in that instance, these guys were about to die,” Himes said.
Smith added: "It did not appear that these two survivors were in any position to continue the fight."
Himes said lawmakers are aware of the partisan divide.
Some legal experts have disputed that the United States is in an official armed conflict with Venezuela, raising questions about the legalities of using American military personnel for what would amount to law enforcement activities that require due process. Other experts have said that, regardless of the terms of engagement, international law does not allow further attacks on defenseless survivors of a previous attack. Specifically, Pentagon protocols say that firing upon the shipwrecked is illegal.
There have been questions and criticism of the mission raised by lawmakers from both parties on Capitol Hill, with inquiries ongoing.
Bradley told lawmakers in a closed session that he ordered the second attack on the wreckage of a boat that was carrying cocaine because it was believed that bales of the drug were still in the hull of the boat.
Cotton said Sunday that two final victims were “not in a shipwrecked state” or “floating helplessly in the water” but instead were “sitting or standing on top of a capsized boat.” Because they were “not incapacitated,” he said, “that boat, its cargo ... remained valid targets.”
Smith, who saw the same video, said, “The boat was clearly incapacitated. A tiny portion of it remained capsized, the bow of the boat. They had no communications device. Certainly, they were unarmed.”
Cotton was on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Smith was on ABC's “This Week” and Himes appeared on CBS' “Face the Nation.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks to reporters following a classified briefing for top congressional lawmakers overseeing national security as they investigate how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth handled a military strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat and its crew in the Caribbean near Venezuela Sept. 2, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Voting was underway on Sunday in Myanmar in the final round of a three-stage general election, capping a nearly monthlong process that has already ensured the country’s military rulers and their allies will command a parliamentary majority to form a new government.
Critics say the polls are neither free nor fair, and are designed to legitimize the power of the military after it ousted the elected civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021.
The army-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, or USDP, has already won most of the seats contested in the first two rounds of voting. Twenty-five percent of the seats in the upper and lower houses of the national Parliament are reserved for the military, guaranteeing it and its allies control of the legislature.
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who heads the current military government, is widely expected by both supporters and opponents to assume the presidency when the new Parliament meets.
The army's 2021 takeover triggered widespread opposition that dragged Myanmar into a civil war. Security concerns engendered by the fighting meant voting was not held in more than one-fifth of the country’s 330 townships, another reason the process has been described as neither free nor fair.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan on Tuesday said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, did not send observers and would not certify the election, citing concerns over the lack of inclusive and free participation.
Min Aung Hlaing pushed back against critics of the polls on Sunday, declaring that “the people who live in Myanmar are the ones who vote. Not those from outside."
“We are not concerned whether this is recognized by foreign countries or not. We recognize the people’s vote. It should be like that,” he told journalists after inspecting a polling station in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city.
Asked if he intended to take part in the new government, he declined to comment, noting the president would be selected when Parliament meets.
Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s 80-year-old former leader, and her party are not participating in the polls. She is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as spurious and politically motivated. Her party, the National League for Democracy, won landslide victories in the 2020 and 2015 elections, but was forced to dissolve in 2023 after refusing to register under new military rules.
Other parties also refused to register or declined to run under conditions they deem unfair, while opposition groups called for a voter boycott.
A new Election Protection Law imposed harsh penalties for most public criticism of the polls, with the authorities charging more than 400 people recently for activities such as leafleting or online activity.
The previous two rounds of voting were disrupted by armed groups opposed to military rule carrying out attacks on polling stations and government buildings in several townships, killing at least two administrative officials, according to the military government.
Voting on Sunday began at 6 a.m. in 61 townships across six regions and three states, including many areas that have seen clashes in recent months.
At the polling station in Dagon township in Yangon, the country’s largest city, 86-year-old Soe Tint said he cast his ballot because he wants the country to be peaceful and develop “in all sectors, including education.”
At the same station, Lae Lae Yi, 62, was less hopeful.
“I’m not expecting anything at all, because there is no motivation,” she said.
The election is being held in three phases due to the armed conflict. The first two rounds took place on Dec. 28 and Jan. 11 in 202 of the country’s 330 townships. A total of 67 townships – mostly areas controlled by armed opposing groups – did not participate, reducing the original seats in the 664-member national parliament to 586.
Final results for all parliament seats are expected to be announced later this week. The military government has announced that Parliament will be convened in March, and the new government will take up its duties in April.
The party with a majority in the combined upper and lower houses of Parliament can select the new president, who in turn names a Cabinet and forms a new government.
More than 4,800 candidates from 57 political parties are competing for seats in national and regional legislatures, though only six are contesting nationwide. Seventeen other parties aside from the USDP have won a small number of seats in the legislature, ranging from one to 10.
The military government said there are more than 24 million eligible voters, about 35% fewer than in 2020. The turnout in the first two rounds of voting was between 50% and 60%, it announced.
Peck reported from Bangkok.
A official of the Union Election Commission prepares a voting booth at a polling station, one day ahead of the third phase of the general election, in Yangon, Myanmar, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
A voter casts her ballot at a polling station during the third phase of general election in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
An official of the Union Election Commission sets up an electronic voting machine at a polling station, one day ahead of the third phase of the general election, in Yangon, Myanmar, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)
An official of the Union Election Commission announces the open of a polling station during the third phase of general election in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
A voter holds up her finger marked with ink indicating she voted at a polling station during the third phase of general election in Mandalay, central Myanmar, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
