Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said the Trump administration’s military strikes on alleged drug boats were a “form of extrajudicial killing.”
Host Kristen Welker said, “I know you haven’t seen the video, but based on what you know, do you believe these boat strikes are legal?”
Schiff said, “No, I don’t. They’re unlawful. They’re unconstitutional. And killing two people who are shipwrecked at sea is also morally repugnant. I agree with Tom. We should do everything lawfully that we can to stop the scourge of drugs coming into this country. But this is not at all lawful or constitutional. And frankly, if the Pentagon and our defense secretary is so proud of what they’re doing, let the American people see that video. Let the American people see two people standing on a capsized boat or sitting on a capsized boat and deliberately killed, and decide for themselves whether they’re proud of what the country is doing. I can’t imagine people will be proud of that. And as you pointed out, the manual on the Law of War makes it explicit that killing people or shipwrecked is illegal is a violation of law.
He added, “And the most troubling thing I heard from Senator Cotton was when he said he really didn’t matter what he’s doing on that capsized boat, whether they were signaling their distress and asking for rescue or what they were doing. It does matter. It does matter. And, you know, one point I would share with him, and that is, I also think that all of these strikes are unlawful. They’re a form of extrajudicial killing. These boats are not invading the United States in an armed assault. There are thousands of miles away. Some of them, maybe even this vessel, if reports are accurate, wasn’t even heading to the United States. And for us to be engaged in this kind of unauthorized campaign of extrajudicial killing couldn’t be, I think, a more clear violation of the law, the fact the administration may put a group of organizations terrorist, narco, terrorist organizations on a list doesn’t change the legal ability, doesn’t confer on a president the ability to kill them at sea. You could put anyone you want on the list. It doesn’t make it lawful to say I can now kill him.”
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