In accordance with the liberal media’s obsession with the Pentagon’s alleged “war crime” that took place in early September, MS NOW’s Joe Scarborough lashed out at Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for ridding standard military procedure and “making shit up.” Senior military officials, including Admiral Mitch Bradley, were scheduled to brief top members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees later that day.
During Thursday’s Morning Joe, Scarborough began by painting the controversy as a nonpartisan issue that will inevitably damage those responsible:
Most conservative, serious conservative thinkers like Andy McCarthy, Jack Goldsmith, others, they think this entire operation is illegal. Not the double tap. They think the entire operation is not a war. George Will put it very, very well yesterday when he said, “Pete Hegseth committed a war crime without a war.” That's quite an accomplishment. So, it is a real mess. And you have the top admiral and the top JAG officer going, “No, no, we're — this doesn't look right.” And, again, it's all going to come out, even though they're scrambling around and trying to protect themselves, there's no protecting themselves from the truth.
Scarborough would like you to think respected individuals find the effort definitively wrong. However, according to a CBS News poll, 53 percent of U.S. adults approve of “using military force to attack boats suspected of bringing drugs into” the States.
Were none of them “serious conservatives,” Joe?
The truth, indeed, shall come out in due time. But considering that the boat operators were covered by President Trump’s Executive Order designating them as Foreign Terrorists, the fact remained that the Caribbean confrontations were unconventional warfare, which should protect the strikes.
Co-host Willie Geist scoffed at comments from those with knowledge of the strikes saying that the alleged traffickers were trying to salvage drugs and were trying to radio for backup (Click “Expand”):
GEIST: … you know, the explanation we're hearing a little bit is that maybe these two guys who survived were attempting to get back on the boat and somehow continue the mission. This flaming, smoking vessel that these guys were going to climb back on board and continue their drug run. That's one of the reports — one of the spins we’re hearing. But again, that's just today's explanation.
SCARBOROUGH: That's today's explanation.
GEIST: There’s something different every day.
It appears as though the leftists would latch on to every new emerging detail as further evidence of an ever-worsening scandal.
Even ABC reported the night prior that the alleged drug smugglers were attempting to recoup and were “still in the fight” after the initial strike on September 2nd:
ABC’s Martha Raddatz on Wednesday’s ‘World News Tonight’ about drug boat-gate: “And tonight, new information: According to a source familiar with the incident, the two survivors climbed back on to the boat after the initial strike. They were believed to be potentially in… pic.twitter.com/R5eHFzzDql
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) December 4, 2025
Scarborough scathed Hegseth for (allegedly) failing to follow proper military regulations when conducting the operation:
And then there's also the “Oh, well, they had a radio and they were radioing.” Oh, so that — oh, does that mean now the new, sort of, rules of warfare, if you have a prisoner and they're indefensible and they have a radio, you can shoot them in the head. That's now the new Hegseth policy. If they have a radio, you can shoot them in the head. Forget the war crimes. Forget what the U.S. Army manual says. Forget what the military — the DOD manual says. So yeah, they're making shit up as they go along every day.
Unorthodoxy does not necessarily mean illegality. And if you look at the video released by President Trump, the boat was not fully destroyed by the first “kinetic” strike — potentially warranting an insurance measure.
And to touch on the most obvious point ignored by everyone thus far: The United States held supreme authority to defend and destroy any existential threat to the American people, regardless of its size or severity.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" read:
MS NOW’s Morning Joe
December 4, 2025
6:02:33 a.m. EST
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Now let's just back up for one second. Most conservative, serious conservative thinkers like Andy McCarthy, Jack Goldsmith, others, they think this entire operation is illegal.
WILLIE GEIST: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: Not the double tap. They think the entire operation is not a war. George Will put it very, very well yesterday when he said, “Pete Hegseth committed a war crime without a war.”
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right.
SCARBOROUGH: That's quite an accomplishment. So, it is a real mess. And you have the top admiral and the top JAG officer going, “No, no, we're — this doesn't look right.” And, again, it's all going to come out, even though they're scrambling around and trying to protect themselves, there's no protecting themselves from the truth.
GEIST: And imagine being that career admiral, Admiral Halsey, who you just talked about in this incredible piece in the Wall Street Journal and being told by Pete Hegseth, “Get on board or else. And when you get an order” —
GEIST: “Don't ask questions.”
SCARBOROUGH: — “don't ask questions, pal.” That's what Pete Hegseth is saying to these admirals. So we will hear from Admiral —
BRZEZINKSI: Yeah.
GEIST: — Martin this morning when he talks to Congress. And we — you know, the explanation we're hearing a little bit is that maybe these two guys who survived were attempting to get back on the boat and somehow —
SCARBOROUGH: [Laughing] What?
GEIST: — continue the mission.
BRZEZINKSI: And be a threat.
GEIST: This flaming, —
BRZEZINKSI: Right.
GEIST: — smoking vessel —
SCARBOROUGH: Exactly.
GEIST: — that these guys were going to climb back on board and continue their drug run. That's one of the reports —
SCARBOROUGH: Which is —
GEIST: — one of the spins we’re hearing.
SCARBOROUGH: —totally insane.
GEIST: Which is insane.
SCARBOROUGH: Right.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
GEIST: That's part of the spin we're hearing this morning, that those two people were still a threat, therefore the double tap —
BRZEZINKSI: [Inaudible] to be annihilated.
GEIST: — was warranted. But again, that's just today's explanation.
SCARBOROUGH: That's today's explanation.
GEIST: There’s something different every day.
BRZEZINKSI: [Inaudible] changed.
SCARBOROUGH: And then there's also the “Oh, well, they had a radio and they were radioing.” Oh, so that — oh, does that mean now the new, sort of, rules of warfare, if you have a prisoner and they're —
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: — indefensible and they have a radio, you can shoot them in the head.
GEIST: Right.
SCARBOROUGH: That's now the new Hegseth policy. If they have a radio, you can shoot them in the head.
BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.
SCARBOROUGH: Forget the war crimes. Forget what the U.S. Army manual says. Forget what he military — the DOD manual says. So yeah, they're making shit up as they go along every day. And the inconsistency of it all, again, looks very bad.
GEIST: And Hegseth is still, Mika, claiming “fog of war,” which —
BRZEZINSKI: Right.
GEIST: — is to say, there's a lot of stuff that goes on in war in the moment that, you know, you gotta just accept.
BRZEZINSKI: It’s utterly ridiculous.
GEIST: That’s not gonna fly.
BRZEZINSKI: Okay, so, in combat, he calls it combat, that —
GEIST: Yeah.
BRZEZINSKI: — blowing up a boat.
