As President Trump’s Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is facing some heat for ordering two strikes on a suspected drug boat in Venezuela that left no survivors, the co-hosts of The View debated whether U.S. troops could be held responsible for following Hegseth’s orders if this is found to be a war crime.
According to The Washington Post, Hegseth allegedly ordered military officials to kill everyone aboard the vessel, resulting in a second strike that killed two remaining survivors. Hegseth has since denied the report and President Trump has backed him, claiming he has “great confidence” in Hegseth.
Sunny Hostin pointed out that this debate is why Sen. Mark Kelly, who is a veteran, recently encouraged soldiers to refuse illegal orders.
“If this is deemed to be war crimes […] what you’re supposed to do under international law [is] you’re supposed to take those survivors as war criminals, prisoners of war, and you’re supposed to give them refuge, and you’re supposed to take care of them and then you’re supposed to put them into a court of law,” she explained during Monday’s (Dec. 1) broadcast.
She continued, “Instead, they killed them. That means the person who gave the order can be held accountable and put in prison, and that means the people who conducted the orders, who pulled the trigger, are also responsible and can be held accountable.” Hostin added that this could put “people that are serving this country as patriots” at risk.
Whoopi Goldberg later accused Hegseth of “setting” troops up with these possibly illegal orders.
“What he’s done is he’s set them up,” she declared. “Listen, this is not the first time it’s happened. This is like the fifth, sixth or seven time. At some point, somebody is responsible and the buck stops there.”
Ana Navarro chimed in to point out that “upwards of 80 people” have been killed in these strikes.
“This is not new. But he’s setting our people up, and it’s not pretty,” Goldberg stated.
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.
