Tom Cotton calls on Washington Post to apologize to Hegseth, Bradley for 'slander'

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called on The Washington Post to apologize on Sunday for what he called "slander" against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Adm. Mitch Bradley over its report about the lethal strikes on an alleged drug boat.

Cotton defended the operations to destroy drug-running boats he said were poisoning and killing Americans, telling "Meet the Press" that the controversy that's embroiled Hegseth and the administration began with The Washington Post's story that Hegseth was essentially responsible for the "double tap" that killed the survivors of the initial strike, a potential war crime if they were no longer threats.

"They're all valid targets," Cotton said on NBC, saying intelligence gave high confidence that the boat had no innocents aboard and consisted solely of drug traffickers. "Now, this controversy, let's remember, all started with a Washington Post story about nine days ago that said after the first strike, there were two survivors that were helpless, and then they were ordered to kill those helpless survivors. That is simply not the case."

Cotton said they were not "incapacitated in any way," while Democrats who have seen the footage have said they were no longer threats.

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"It was entirely appropriate to strike the boat again to make sure that its cargo was destroyed," Cotton said. "It is in no way a violation of the law of war, and I think The Washington Post owes Secretary Hegseth, and especially Adm. Mitch Bradley… an apology for that slander."

The Post printed the headline last month, "Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all." It reported that after the initial Sept. 2 strike blew apart a suspected drug boat, with two survivors "clinging to the smoldering wreck," Bradley ordered a second strike that killed them both to comply with Hegseth's instructions.

"Hegseth's order, which has not been previously reported, adds another dimension to the campaign against suspected drug traffickers. Some current and former U.S. officials and law-of-war experts have said that the Pentagon's lethal campaign - which has killed more than 80 people to date - is unlawful and may expose those most directly involved to future prosecution," The Post reported last month.

Cotton told reporters after a briefing last week that Bradley wasn't given a "kill them all" order, and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote on X, "The Washington Post must retract their story which led to this latest hoax against Secretary Hegseth. It's an insult to the American People & to everyone who wears the uniform of our country."

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There have been other reports and testimony to indicate Hegseth didn't give an explicit directive to kill survivors of the initial attack, including from The New York Times. ABC News' Martha Raddatz reported last week, "According to a source familiar with the incident, the two survivors climbed back onto the boat after the first strike. They were believed to be potentially in communication with others and salvaging some of the drugs. Because of that, it was determined they were still in the fight and valid targets."

The Post has stood by the story.

"The Washington Post is proud of its rigorous, accurate reporting," a spokesperson for the paper told Fox News Digital last week.

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Fox News Digital reached out to The Post for additional comment.

Cotton offered up a staunch defense Sunday of the Trump administration's drug-boat strikes, saying any vessel that could harm American children was a "valid target."

"Any boat loaded with drugs that is crewed by associates and members of foreign terrorist organizations that are trying to kill American kids, I think, is a valid target," he said on "Meet the Press." "I'm not just comfortable with it. I want to continue it."

Fox News Digital's Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.