Hillary Clinton Claims Trump Admin Has 'No Idea' If The Boats Targeted In The Caribbean Are Actually Carrying Drugs

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed the Trump administration has "no idea" if the boats being targeted in the Caribbean are actually carrying drugs.

Speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations panel, Clinton slammed Republicans in Congress, saying they are "determine to ignore" what she described as the administration's refusal to go through proper channels (getting congressional approval) to conduct the strikes.

"They are laying the predicate for some kind of military action against Maduro. Congress has abdicated its responsibility on everything with the president, without any demand that (Defense Secretary Pete) Hegseth and others show up and show them why they are destroying these boats," Clinton added.

Most Republicans in the Senate rejected on Wednesday an initiative to prevent the administration from conducting strikes against vessels in the Caribbean without congressional approval. Only two GOP senators joined Democrats in supporting the proposal: Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, while John Fetterman was the sole Democrat to vote against it.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and sits on the Armed Services panel, rejected criticism against the strikes, saying President Donald Trump is fulfilling a campaign promise: "President Trump stated very clearly and repeatedly during the campaign that he would attack these cartels if necessary. This is simply him keeping his word to the American people," he said.

CNN reported this week that the Department of Justice released a secret opinion justifying strikes against cartels and suspected drug traffickers.

Concretely, the opinion issued by the Office of Legal Counsel claims that President Donald Trump is allowed to authorize deadly force against the targets because they pose an imminent threat to Americans, the outlet noted. It also quoted legal experts who said the opinion is significant because it appears to justify an open-ended war against secret enemies. It also allows him to have them summarily killed without legal review, in contrast with past cases in which they got due process rights.

Elsewhere in her allocution, Clinton said that "there seems to be a desire on the part of the administration to confront Maduro." "Maybe their thinking is if they blow up a lot of boats and send a message they can intimidate him into somehow leaving power. We have to be very careful about this," she added.