Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., went on the attack Wednesday, accusing Secretary of War Pete Hegseth of actions he claimed mirror war crimes prosecuted after World War II.
The clash came during Hegseth’s testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, where Moulton grilled the Pentagon chief over the Trump administration’s strikes targeting suspected drug-running boats in the Caribbean. Moulton argued the operations could violate international law, claiming it would be a “war crime” under the Geneva Conventions to order the “murder” of survivors left in the water.
Hegseth pushed back, saying U.S. forces operate within established “rules of engagement” and highlighting what he described as the effectiveness and professionalism of American warfighters.
Moulton later doubled down in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, when asked directly whether he believed Hegseth had committed war crimes.
“Absolutely,” Moulton responded. “I mean, he’s clearly behind the operation to shoot all these boats in the Caribbean when it’s very unclear that we actually have any confirmation that these so-called ‘narco terrorists,’ a term the administration invented to justify this action, are even on the books. I mean, in fact, there’s a lot of evidence that these are just fishermen, you know, getting jobs, piloting these boats, trying to feed their families. There’s been press reporting on some of these individuals who have been killed who are clearly not war criminals.”
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“And on top of that, we then have the strike where they came back in and hit it again, a double tap, just purely to kill these survivors who were clinging to wreckage,” he continued.
The Massachusetts Democrat, a veteran of the Iraq War, escalated his rhetoric further by invoking a historical comparison to Nazi Germany, arguing Allied nations prosecuted similar conduct during the war.
“And guess what the conclusion was? They got executed,” Moulton told Burnett, adding, “Listen to that, Mr. Secretary.”
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