Speaking to reporters, Sen. Tom Cotton defended the Venezuelan boat strikes as something "we'd expect our military commanders to do."

I saw two survivors trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs, bound for the United States, back over so they could stay in the fight," Cotton claimed The post Tom Cotton Says Double-Tap Strike Survivors Needed to Die After ‘Trying to Flip’ Their Boat Back Over first appeared on Mediaite.

Democrats called the Caribbean strike briefing “deeply disturbing,” while Republicans said the military acted appropriately.

Senior Democratic lawmakers briefed on a U.S. strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean said on Thursday they were troubled by a video showing survivors in distress being killed, though Republican lawmakers there defended the strike as legal.

Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Sen. Tom Cotton has been a longtime adviser to President Trump, both echoing the chief executive’s bare-knuckled rhetoric on subjects like immigration and China and at times pushing him to take even more aggressive positions.

"What I saw in that room one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service," Democratic Rep. Jim Himes said.

Lawmakers are demanding further investigation into a September attack on an alleged drug boat after a briefing revealed a new account of the incident.

Two top House lawmakers emerged divided along party lines after a private briefing with the military official who oversaw September’s attack on an alleged drug vessel that included a so-called double-tap strike that killed surviving crew members,

Sen. Tom Cotton rejects Rep. Himes’ claim the footage was “disturbing,” arguing the survivors were attempting to flip a drug-laden vessel and could have called in reinforcements.