‘This is what you said the morning after the strike’: Morning Joe fact checks Hegseth

Allegations of Wrongdoing and Potential War Crimes - The report centers on allegations that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth may have been involved in a war crime related to a strike on a boat suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean [1][4][5][6] - Allegations include that a secondary strike was ordered to eliminate survivors of the initial attack [1] - Judge Andrew Napolitano called the killing of the survivors a war crime and suggested that Secretary Hegseth and others involved should be prosecuted [4][5][6] Conflicting Statements and Accountability - Secretary Hegseth's statements about his knowledge of the events surrounding the strike are inconsistent, leading to questions about his competence and honesty [1][3][4] - There are conflicting accounts of whether Secretary Hegseth was aware of the second strike and whether he ordered it [1][3][17] - The White House is potentially shifting blame to the admiral who ordered the strike, while also maintaining that the admiral acted within Secretary Hegseth's orders, creating a liability for both [9][10][19] Political Implications and Defense Strategy - The administration is standing by Secretary Hegseth, claiming he was unaware of the survivors and did not specifically order the strike against them [9][16] - Republicans are giving Secretary Hegseth latitude unless it's proven that he definitively knew there were survivors and he himself definitively ordered the strike [16] - The situation could potentially backfire on the administration, especially if the admiral is court-martialed, which could validate Democratic criticisms of the administration's recklessness [12]