Kaine: White House 'Lying' About Only Striking Narco Terrorists

Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) claimed the White House was lying about “only striking designated narco terrorists” in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

Host Jake Tapper asked, “And any word from the White House since you sent that letter we referred to at the top of the piece?”

Kaine said, “The White House made a public statement that there are only designated narco-terrorists striking. And they’re lying. I have been looking at every bit of this, from the original presidential directive in July to the legal opinion issued by the Department of Justice authorizing military operations in September to the Department of Defense’s targeting criteria in October. All of this is classified, so I cannot really go into the contents, but I’ve reviewed all of it, and I’ve reviewed the strike files themselves. And when this administration says they are only striking designated narco terrorists, I can tell you from a review of the record, they’re lying. And the one thing I can tell you about the targeting criteria is what’s not in the targeting criteria. And this stunned me when I finally was able to get it and review it. The Department of Defense does not require any evidence that the boats they are striking contain any narcotics. They could have had that as one of the targeting criteria. I can’t tell you what the criteria are, but I feel able to tell you what they’re not. They could have included a criterion that we will only strike craft that are carrying narcotics. They chose not to do that. And so they are striking boats and killing people far beyond what the president’s directive was and far beyond what the White House and Pentagon spokespeople are saying they were doing.”

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