The boat, the video, further investigations and a President Trump who backpedals with a ridiculous lie

Donald Trump is backing away from his own promise, even though only a few days ago he claimed that releasing the video of the boat strike in the Caribbean would be “no problem.” Now he even denies ever having said that sentence and shifts the decision to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Yet Trump himself had previously emphasized that they would release “everything they have.”

Washington, Washington, December 3, 2025: Question: Will you release the video of the second boat strike?

Trump: I do not know what they have, but whatever they have, we would certainly release.

Exactly at the moment when new details about the strike become known, this backpedaling begins.

Washington, December 8: Question: “You said you had no problem releasing the full video of the September 2 strike.”

Trump: “I did not say that.” You are saying that. I never said that. That is ABC fake news.

“The president said he saw in the video how individuals attempted to make the damaged boat float again. We want to point out that the boat was in two pieces. From his words it can be inferred that the boat was no longer intact, yet he very deliberately avoided using the term ‘capsized.’” His justification that the boat was “full of drugs” replaces neither clarification nor an explanation for why people clinging to a sinking wreck, waving, became the target of another attack. Also, and we know what we are writing about here, no drugs were visible on the boat. Instead of clarity, the impression arises that the White House is trying to limit political and also criminal damage by shifting responsibility onto the military. See also our article: “When a US airstrike becomes the question of a war crime and an admiral contradicts himself more and more according to our research” – at the link: https://kaizen-blog.org/en/wenn-ein-us-luftschlag-zur-frage-eines-kriegsverbrechens-wird-und-ein-admiral-sich-nach-unseren-recherchen-mehr-und-mehr-widerspricht/

In one week Trump announces that the video could be shown without hesitation, and one week later he acts as if that statement was never made and denies it. Instead, he says he will abide by whatever “Hegseth wants.” For exactly that reason, the release could become more dangerous for Hegseth and Trump than the Epstein files.

Further investigations by us revealed that the survivors had not sent a radio call for help. This point had been central for months to the justification of the Defense Department, which repeatedly referred to alleged uncertainties and possible attempts at communication.

Admiral Frank Bradley, who directed the second strike on the boat on September 2, has now also told lawmakers that the survivors had not sent a radio call for help. If Admiral Frank Bradley has now also confirmed that no radio signals were sent, a key part of the official account collapses. The new information suggests that the department presented the situation differently from how it actually was and that crucial details were deliberately withheld. This creates the impression that the public was intentionally kept in the dark about the sequence and assessment of the second strike and that the true scope of the operation is only now becoming visible.

Further questions are also raised by the press conference on December 2, 2025. There, government spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt made statements that openly contradict Hegseth’s current version. It is immediately apparent that she had not been prepared in time for the new line. It is precisely this unfiltered stumbling that makes the video so explosive. The recording is now in the possession of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San José, Costa Rica, a complaint we are helping to support, and it is likely to become one of many central pieces of evidence, because it shows how uncoordinated and contradictory the administration reacts the moment it comes under pressure. The hasty corrections, the visible hesitation, the uncertainty, the many lies – all of it suggests that far more is being concealed here than the press office is willing to admit.

Washington, December 2, 2025: The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, was questioned on Monday about a US military strike carried out on September 2 against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean after it had been alleged that a commander executed a second strike.

to comply with an order from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stating that no survivors should be left behind.

A journalist asked: “Does the administration deny that this second strike happened, or did it happen and the administration denies that Hegseth gave the order?” Leavitt replied: “The latter is true.” (Now everyone can choose their own answer, editorial note)
Leavitt antwortete: „Letzteres ist richtig.“ (Jetzt kann jeder sich selbst eine Antwort aussuchen, Anmerkung der Redaktion)

Leavitt then read a statement: “President Trump and Secretary Hegseth have made it clear that narcoterrorist groups designated by the president may be treated as lethal targets in accordance with the laws of war. With respect to the strikes in question on September 2, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes. Admiral Bradley acted clearly within his authority and within the law when he directed the engagement to destroy the boat and eliminate the threat to the United States of America.”

She continued: “And I would like to add one more thing to remind the American public why these lethal strikes are taking place. This administration has designated these narco terrorists as foreign terrorist organizations. The president has the right to take them out when they threaten the United States of America and when they bring illegal drugs that are killing our citizens at record rates, which is what they are doing. And under the previous administration, enough fentanyl was trafficked into our country to kill every American man, woman, and child many times over.”

Further investigations revealed that five US officials said that before the strikes on September 2, Hegseth had given the order to kill the people on the boat and to destroy the boat and its cargo. However, all officials said that the order did not specify what should happen if the first strike did not fully achieve that objective. The officials also said that the order was not issued in response to surveillance material that reportedly showed at least two people who had survived the first strike.

The reason this video can hardly be shown publicly is not secrecy or ongoing investigations. It is what is visible on it. It would be a documented killing under circumstances that cannot be justified even with generous interpretation. The footage shows that a second strike was carried out against people who were already defenseless. That would have political, legal, and international consequences that the White House is trying to avoid at all costs. We are currently conducting investigations in two other cases as well, including in South America, where indications of irregularities have emerged. The traces are tightening and every new piece of information shows why the administration suddenly tries to shift responsibility. Some videos are not altered by cutting them, but by hoping they never come to light.