Schumer accuses Trump administration of 'cover-up' on Sept. 2 boat strike video

​​​​​​​By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer accused the Trump administration and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday of stonewalling Congress and Americans by refusing to release the full, unedited video of the Sept. 2 “double tap” boat strike, calling the lack of transparency a “cover-up.”

Speaking on the Senate floor, Schumer described a tense exchange during Tuesday’s classified meeting of the “Gang of Eight” -- intelligence committee and Senate and House of Representatives leaders from both parties -- during which he said he asked Hegseth whether all members of Congress would be allowed to review the complete tapes of a second strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat off the coast of Venezuela.

"Secretary Hegseth answered. He said, 'We have to study it,'" said Schumer. "What the hell has he been doing for the last three months? Hegseth and DoD (Department of Defense) have had more than enough time to study this. It's time for all members of Congress to see the tapes for themselves."

Congress is seeking to freeze a portion of Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon turns over video footage of the second strike, which is at the center of allegations that two survivors clinging to the wreckage of the boat may have been killed.

Last week, the Trump administration showed the videos to some members of Congress in a closed session.

- 'This is not a partisan issue'

Schumer said lawmakers from both parties, including the Republican chair and Democratic ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, have requested that the Pentagon release the footage.

"This is not a partisan issue," he said.

"Both parties are united in demanding the tapes be released, not only to Congress, but to the American people as well. So, the American people want to have the transparency they deserve. Hegseth is resisting that transparency. What is he hiding? What is DoD hiding, and what is President (Donald) Trump hiding? That's the question the American people are asking when it comes to Hegseth's cover-up of these tapes, these videos."

Schumer criticized the administration’s handling of US military activity in the Caribbean, saying he pressed Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for clarity during the briefing.

"I wanted to know, what are their plans, how far are they going? Is Donald Trump about to drag America into another endless war? And again, I didn't get any satisfying answers," he said.

The Sept. 2 strike was the first of 22 that the Pentagon has carried out, killing more than 85 people.

Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes would continue.

While the administration maintains the second strike was lawful and necessary, members of Congress and legal experts have raised doubts, with some Democrats warning that targeting survivors could amount to a war crime.