The president of the United States has just publicly murdered eleven people. He committed first-degree murder eleven times, then bragged about it to the world. Then he said, “There’s more where that came from.”<\/p>\n
It happened on Sept. 2, a day that should go down in infamy. Donald Trump ordered the U.S. Navy to use ether a drone or a helicopter and destroy an unarmed Venezuelan speedboat with eleven people aboard because he believed<\/em> it was carrying drugs, and he believed<\/em> gang members were aboard, and he believed<\/em> they were headed for the United States for nefarious reasons.<\/p>\n He believed. He did not know. He had evidence but no proof. He just believed. He gave his innocent-until-proven victims no chance to no chance to speak, no chance to defend themselves. Just kill and destroy.<\/p>\n And even if they had been guilty of smuggling drugs, smuggling drugs is not a capital offense. How else can you describe that as anything but open-and-shut first-degree murder?<\/p>\n Trump claimed the four-engine speed boat was loaded with drugs and the eleven men aboard were terrorists, members of the Venezuelan criminal gang called Tren de Aragua, which the US has designated as a terrorist organization. Therefore, he said, acting in the name of \u201cprotecting the national interest\u201d, he had the power to invoke wartime rules that allow troops to lawfully kill enemy combatants on sight. Under normal civilian rules, law enforcement agents arrest criminal suspects for prosecution, but they cannot just gun down the suspects.<\/p>\n Does Trump have the power he claims?<\/p>\n Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, read a statement that said the strike took place in international waters and did not put American troops at risk. She said Trump had directed the attack in \u201cdefense of vital U.S. national interests and in the collective self-defense of other nations who have long suffered due to the narcotics trafficking and violent cartel activities of such organizations.\u201d She refused to take questions, including whether those other nations had asked him to defend them.<\/p>\n Supporters of the strike framed it as a necessary show of force. Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), who once referred to Trump as \u201ca kook\u201d, called it \u201cthe ultimate \u2013 and most welcome \u2013 sign that we have a new sheriff in town.\u201d Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) wrote: \u201cSinking this boat saved American lives.\u201d<\/p>\n But beyond all the rhetoric, legal experts and congressional sources say Trump has so far ducked lawmakers and provided a mishmash of public justifications that raise serious questions about the strike\u2019s legality. CNN reported that the Defense Department abruptly canceled classified briefings that were scheduled to let the Trump administration explain itself to several key House and Senate committees. Lawmakers wanted to ask officials about the legal justification for the strike, and what intelligence gathering went into determining the identities and intentions of those on the boat. They got nothing.<\/p>\n
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