Hegseth and Rubio expected to brief ‘Gang of Eight’ as Trump refuses to rule out sending troops to Venezuela – US politics live

Hegseth and Rubio expected to brief 'Gang of Eight'

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine, are expected to brief the “Gang of Eight” lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon, Reuters reports, citing two sources familiar with the plan and a Trump administration official.

The “Gang of Eight” – which includes intelligence committee and Senate and House of Representatives leaders from both parties – is traditionally briefed on major national security actions.

The sources did not discuss the nature of the briefing, expected to take place at 3:30pm ET (8.30pm GMT).

Tensions have been mounting between the US and Venezuela, as Donald Trump threatens land strikes against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers, after more than three months of a military campaign against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific. On Tuesday, Politico published an interview with the president in which he refused to rule out putting US troops into Venezuela. “I don’t comment on that. I wouldn’t say that one way or the other,” he said.

Asked if he would consider adopting a similar strategy to that taken with Venezuela against Mexico and Colombia, Trump replied: “Yeah, I would. Sure. I would.”

The US military has also built up the presence of warships in the Caribbean, including an aircraft carrier strike group and a nuclear submarine.

Adm Alvin Holsey, the outgoing commander of the US military’s southern command, which oversees American troops in Latin America, is also expected to brief a separate group of House and Senate lawmakers on Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said.

Holsey will step down on Friday, less than two months after the surprise announcement of his early retirement, which came just over a month into the Pentagon’s accelerating campaign against suspected drug boats. The strikes have resulted in the deaths of nearly 90 people and raised concerns among Democrats and legal experts.

Trump’s military operations have been under increased scrutiny since a 2 September decision to launch a second strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean.

The video of the attack, viewed by lawmakers last week, showed two men clinging to wreckage after their vessel was destroyed in the first strike, according to sources familiar with the imagery. They were shirtless, unarmed and carried no visible communications equipment.

The defense department’s Law of War Manual forbids attacks on combatants who are incapacitated, unconscious or shipwrecked, as long as they abstain from hostilities and do not attempt to escape. The manual cites firing upon shipwreck survivors as an example of a “clearly illegal” order that should be refused.

On Monday, Trump said he would let Hegseth decide whether to release the full video of the strike, in a shift from comments last week when he said the government would “certainly release” any footage, “no problem”.

“Whatever Hegseth wants to do is OK with me,” Trump said on Monday.

The annual defense policy bill currently passing through Congress includes provisions that would compel the Pentagon to provide Congressional committees with unedited video of the strikes. Lawmakers in Congress have tried in recent months to compel Hegseth’s department to share more information about the attacks. The bill would withhold a quarter of the Pentagon’s travel funds if the footage is not shared.