Joe Scarborough did not buy into War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s claim of “fog of war” for a “double tap” strike on a suspected narco-trafficking boat on Sept. 2
Scarborough, host of “Morning Joe,” used Hegseth’s own words against him in his show Wednesday, a day after President Donald Trump’s Cabinet meeting.
During Tuesday’s meeting, NBC News senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez asked Hegseth and Trump about the controversial attack on the alleged drug-smuggling boat that reportedly killed two survivors of the first strike.
The second strike had some in Washington calling it a potential war crime. Officials have demanded clarity on what Hegseth knew and when he issued the order.
“I did not personally see survivors, but I stand — because the thing was on fire. It was exploded and fire and smoke. You can’t see anything. You got digital. This is called the fog of war. This is what you and the press don’t understand,” Hegseth said.
Scarborough had harsh words for Hegseth in reply.
“Yeah. You know, but you weren’t talking about the fog of war the morning after this happened. And that happened on September 2nd. Then on September 3rd, there was no fog of war. You were in complete command. You were in complete charge ,” Scarborough said. “You knew exactly who was on that boat. You knew exactly when that boat was fired upon.”
“You knew everything, Mr. Secretary, about what happened that day. It wasn’t like ‘oh there’s a fog of war! Oh, were people hanging on? And did I commit war crimes? I’m not sure!” he continued.
A clip of Hegseth “Fox & Friends” told a different story, per Scarborough.
On the Sept. 3 clip, Hegseth admitted that he “watched it live” and that his team knew “exactly who was on that boat” — they were part of a “narco-terrorist” cartel organization.
“So since he knew exactly what was going on, he will know, as the “Washington Post” reported, the boat was not hit once. It was not hit twice, it was not hit three times. It was hit four times, when he knew exactly according to his own words the day after the event, what happened that day off the coast of Venezuela,” Scarborough said after the clip played.
“Two of those strikes, I’m sure the secretary of defense knows about were to kill the crew and twice more to sink the boat, according to four people familiar with the operation,” the host continued. “So again, as usual, every day he comes out and every day he says something that is more in conflict with what he said the day before.”
“Tell your friends on “Fox & Friends” you know exactly what was going, you know exactly who was on board, you knew exactly about the time!” Scarborough said to Hegseth. “You were there. You were the man. OK, man, you were there.”
Scarborough’s vitriol did not end there.
“You admitted you knew everything about four strikes. Are you telling me there was a first strike and you said, ‘I’m going to go up to my office and play Parchisi? I’m bored with this.’ No! You stayed there for the four strikes. You know you did. So now you’re saying, ‘Oh, fog of war! Why – no – I don’t – one strike, four strikes. It’s a fog!’” Scarborough said.
“No, you told everybody. You told America the morning after the attack. You knew everything about it. You were there. You saw it yourself,” he added.
