GOP senators urge Pentagon to declassify drug boat strike video after Hegseth says footage will stay secret

Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn encouraged the Pentagon to release the full, unedited footage of a controversial September military strike on an alleged drug boat despite War Secretary Pete Hegseth saying the video would not be made public.

"My default is always for more transparency, because if you don't release it, then there's more conspiracy theories and people wondering about why you're hiding it, so that would be my preference," Cornyn, R-Texas, said Tuesday on "The Faulkner Focus." 

Hegseth told reporters Tuesday, after briefing bipartisan Senate lawmakers on ongoing strikes against alleged narco-terrorists, that the Department of War would adhere to "long-standing" policy and refrain from releasing "a top secret full unedited video" of the strike to the public.

Hegseth, however, said that "appropriate" congressional committees would see the footage.

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Graham, R-S.C., defended the Trump administration's strikes against the alleged drug smugglers but also suggested the video should be released for transparency.

"Release it, make your own decisions. This is lawful. I have every confidence that what they're doing is no different than what Bush did," he said, referring to the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama during President George H.W. Bush's administration.

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"Nobody in Congress accused the military leadership under President Bush 41 of being a war criminal for invading Panama without congressional authorization…" Graham continued.

"I don't think most Americans give a damn about the video. I'd like all of us to see it. Most Americans want to know what's going to happen next. I want to know what's going to happen next. Is it the policy to take Maduro down? It should be if it's not and, if he goes, what's going to happen next? I'd like a better answer as to what happens when Maduro goes."

The Sept. 2 strike marked the Trump administration's first publicly acknowledged strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean Sea.

The strike has since become controversial due to a second missile that was fired at the boat, killing the only two survivors of the initial hit.

Fox News' Rachel Wolf and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.