It's not just Pete Hegseth who committed war crimes-Trump did too. Both need to be held accountable!
Both Trump and Hegseth violated the law!
There is no question that if Pete Hegseth did order the U.S. military to kill survivors after missile strikes on ships in international waters—more than one thousand miles from our coastline-- it would be murder. There are not two sides to this issue. In fact, it’s so clear that even Donald Trump--despite his dementia laden brain--distanced himself from Hegseth’s actions telling reporters Sunday, “I wouldn’t have wanted a second strike.”
But in reality, long before this reported strike, Hegseth along with Trump have been carrying out illegal military strikes that have killed more than 80 people in international waters who did not pose an imminent threat to the United States. With no exceptions, legal experts from the United Nations to former military lawyers have been telling us just that--but it has barely been covered by our media.
However, that all changed after The Washington Post’s jaw-dropping reporting Saturday about a U.S. military strike in September off the coast of Venezuela targeting an alleged drug carrying ship in international waters carrying 11 people. As The Washington Post reported, after the initial missile strike, “two men clung to their stricken, burning ship.” That is when the military commanders followed Hegseth’s spoken directive, “The order was to kill everybody.” The result was the two survivors were then executed.
The response to this reporting was swift with military legal experts leaving no room for doubt that what Hegseth did was murder and/or a war crime. Todd Huntley, a former military lawyer who advised Special Operations forces stated point blank Hegseth’s actions “amounts to murder.”
And the Former Judge Advocates General (JAGs) Working Group, which includes former officials who served as legal advisers for the military, released a statement Saturday that concluded Hegseth has committed “war crimes, murder, or both.” As they noted, the distinction turns on whether the U.S. is legally involved in “armed conflict” as the Trump administration claims. Then the order to give “no quarter” to survivors is a war crime.
However, they continued, “If the US military operation is not an armed conflict of any kind, these orders to kill helpless civilians clinging to the wreckage of a vessel our military destroyed would subject everyone from [the defense secretary] down to the individual who pulled the trigger to prosecution under US law for murder.”
Hegseth’s defense to these accusations is to claim his orders to kill more than 80 people on ships in international waters was “approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command.” Hegseth is clearly asserting an “advice of counsel defense” to potential criminal charges. This a potentially a legitimate defense that can protect a person from criminal prosecution because it could show that the person lacked the requisite intent to commit the crime. But this is only applicable if all the elements are fulfilled of this defense with the key being relying on the advice in “good faith.”
You don’t need a law degree to get what good faith means here. As a recent federal court of appeals decision tells us, when a person has a sense their conduct is criminal but then searches for any lawyer to tell them it’s okay, that is not good faith. For example, if you ask 20 lawyers if it’s legal to shoot your neighbor for playing the music too loud (even country music!) and 19 lawyers say “no”, but one lawyers says, “yes”—there are enough red flags raised that you can’t in good faith shoot your neighbor.
That is very scenario with Hegseth. NBC News recently reported that before the first strike ordered by Hegseth back in September, he was warned by the senior Judge Advocate General at U.S. Southern Command in Miami that oversees operations that include Venezuela were not legal. In fact, he was warned the military strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings and “therefore legally expose service members involved in the operations.” But per NBC News, he was sidelined because the Trump regime didn’t agree with his views.
Further undermining Hegseth’s defense is a point flagged by the Judge Advocates General Working Group. Earlier this year, Hegseth fired all the head military lawyers. As they note, Hegseth’s “systematic dismantling of the military’s legal guardrails” led to this scenario we have now. Notably as the JAG group wrote, “Had those guardrails been in place, we are confident they would have prevented these crimes.”
That means Hegseth removed lawyers who would disagree what his plans were. So who are the lawyers Hegseth is relying on now for a legal justification for these strikes? Well, we don’t know because it’s secret. As the NY Times reported last month, there is “a secret Justice Department memo” that gave Trump their blessing.
Yep, lawyers who work for Trump’s hand-picked stooge Pam Bondi said it’s okay for Trump and in turn Hegseth to do whatever they want—including kill people in international waters days away from approaching our coast. The NY Times rightly noted, “In reaching that conclusion, the memo contradicts a broad range of critics, who have rejected the idea that there is any armed conflict and have accused Mr. Trump of illegally ordering the military to commit murders.”
Indeed, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk issued a detailed statement in October on why the military strikes by Trump and Hegseth are illegal under international law. As the UN official noted, “Under international human rights law, the intentional use of lethal force is only permissible as a last resort against individuals who pose an imminent threat to life.”
Turk continued that based on the “very sparse” information about the ships provided by Trump, “none of the individuals on the targeted boats appeared to pose an imminent threat to the lives of others or otherwise justified the use of lethal armed force against them under international law.” At that time only about 60 people were killed by Trump—but that number has now risen to more than 80.
You cannot find military legal experts defending Trump and Hegseth’s actions. And that is because there is no legal justification. Keep in mind that Trump’s lies that the ships were carrying fentanyl have been debunked. Even if they were, the US Coast Guard could have easily intercepted the ships closer to our coastline given the military was tracking them.
All of this leads to the conclusion that Trump, Hegseth and others are violating international and perhaps even US laws. Obviously, Trump can pardon Hegseth for US crimes and the corrupt GOP Supreme Court has provided Trump with immunity for even murder if it’s part of official acts.
The only hope to hold Trump and Hegseth accountable is the International Criminal Court (ICC). It’s true that the United States is not one of the 123 countries that are currently members of the ICC. That means the ICC can’t prosecute international crimes that take place on U.S. soil.
But-–and this is big from a legal point of view—the ICC is empowered to prosecute a citizen of a non-member country who commits crimes against humanity on the territory of an ICC member country. Venezuela is a member meaning there is a possibility that if Trump/Hegseth commit war crimes in Venezuela or their territorial waters, charges at the Hague could be brought. In fact, a former ICC prosecutor recently told BBC that US air strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats would be treated under international law as crimes against humanity. Although crimes in international waters are much more challenging for the ICC to prosecute.
Thankfully, Democrats and even a few Republicans in Congress have demanded hearings. From there it’s up to us to press Democratic officials and the media to continue to cover Trump and Hegseth’s crimes. We need to tie the entire GOP to these murders the same way we have tied them to Trump’s BFF Jeffrey Epstein.
For those interested here is my Daily Dean video about the above topic:
Both should be Impeached and kept where they can't do any harm...........and take Miller, Bondi and Noem..........That's a start to clean up the Mess..........
Thank you for your terrific insight. I appreciate it. I'm an attorney licensed in NY, and I like to keep informed of critical information such as the info you present. I think your column is a great place for non-lawyers to get their information too. Thank you!