Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) claimed the legality of the Trump administration’s military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea were “questionable at best.”
Partial transcript as follows:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, on that point, in terms of lawful and unlawful orders, it gets complicated for rank-and-file to understand. I understand and other networks have reported that the senior judge advocate down at SOUTHCOM raised serious doubts about the legality of the strikes on those alleged drug votes, but was contradicted by lawyers at the executive branch. Have you spoken to the SOUTHCOM commander? Do you- are you hearing that there are unlawful orders being given?
KELLY: Well, we’re hearing the same thing that you are. The administration hasn’t shared much information with us. I read the legal analysis. It was just like the briefs. They’re tying themselves in knots trying to explain why what they’re doing with regards to these drug boats is legal and it’s, it’s questionable at best. Our- one of our biggest allies, the United Kingdom, recently stopped sharing intelligence with us in the Caribbean because they question whether this is legal or not. We’ve been asking for more briefings from the right people. We have not received them, but the information that you just shared with me is the, is the public information. I don’t have much more beyond that.
BRENNAN: Well, and the French government has said it’s a violation of international law and the law of the sea. That’s what our allies are saying about those strikes that are happening there.
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