Trump's DOJ Posts Opinion Justifying Strikes Against Secret List Of Cartels

The Department of Justice released a secret opinion justifying strikes against cartels and suspected drug traffickers, according to a new report.

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, CNN reported.

The outlet 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.

Sarah Harrison, a former associate general counsel at the Department of Defense, said the opinion "would mean DOJ has interpreted the president to have such extraordinary powers that he alone can decide to prosecute a war far broader than what Congress authorized after the attacks on 9/11."

"By this logic, any small, medium or big group that is trafficking drugs into the US — the administration could claim it amounts to an attack against the United States and respond with lethal force," she added when talking to the outlet.

The Associated Press reported last week that Trump declared cartels as unlawful combatants and said the U.S. is now in a "non-international armed conflict" with them.

The Associated Press detailed that the decision was notified to Congress members last Wednesday. Some lawmakers briefed on the decision, however, voiced their frustration at the Pentagon's inability to provide a list of the designated terrorist organizations in the conflict, the report added.

The outlet also noted that senators believe the decision shows the administration is seeking a new legal framework for its actions in the Caribbean, which includes several strikes against vessels it has claimed were carrying drugs and drug-traffickers.

The U.S. conducted its latest strike last Friday, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying in a social media publication that, "on President Trump's orders," he directed a "lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility."

He went on to detail that four people were killed in the strike, which was conducted "just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics - headed to America to poison our people."

In this context, Trump has reportedly ended all diplomatic outreach to Venezuela, instructing envoy Richard Grenell to cease all efforts as he grows frustrated with authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro's reluctance to relinquish power.

Trump is also frustrated that Maduro keeps rejecting any ties with drug cartels, The New York Times reported. Officials told the outlet that the administration has drawn up multiple military plans for an eventual escalation.