Senator Tammy Duckworth has apparently decided that the best way to stay relevant is to start tossing around the word “murder” like it’s a campaign slogan. This time she aimed it at War Secretary Pete Hegseth over drone strikes targeting drug traffickers off the coast of Venezuela. And in classic Washington fashion, her outrage collapsed the second anyone asked her a simple follow up question.
Democrats have been trying nonstop to brand a September 2 counter narcotics operation as some sort of war crime. Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley, commander of SOCOM, briefed Congress that he ordered the follow up strike because the traffickers were still in communication with their network and still attempting to salvage narcotics. Senator Tom Cotton put it plainly. These individuals were actively engaged and still in the fight, and that matters in the fog of war.
But Democrats scented an opportunity for cheap political theater and sprinted toward it. Duckworth took things to a whole new level on CNN when she declared that Hegseth had essentially committed murder. She said, “Everything that they’ve done has been illegal. It’s illegal under international law, it’s illegal under the Geneva Convention, and it certainly is illegal under domestic law.” Her outrage somehow never applied to Clinton, Obama, or Biden when they ordered military action without congressional approval. Funny how that works.
Then she gave the most dramatic description possible. “You had two survivors clinging to half of a boat, and then you went in, and you killed them. That’s the Geneva Convention. It was essentially murder with that double tap strike.” According to her, international law requires the United States to stop a military operation so drug traffickers can get a warm blanket and a glass of water.
CNN’s Dana Bash did the bare minimum and asked if Duckworth had actually seen the classified video. Duckworth replied, “I have seen the video, and it is deeply disturbing.” Bash pressed again. “You have seen the classified video?” And just like that, the whole performance collapsed. Duckworth admitted she had not seen anything and was simply repeating media reports. Translation, she didn’t know what she was talking about.
Democrat Tammy Duckworth is CALLED OUT by CNN for lying about the drug strikes:
CNN: "Have you seen the video?"
DUCKWORTH: "I have seen the video…"
CNN: "I just want to make sure…you have seen the classified video…"
DUCKWORTH: "No…I have not seen the actual video." pic.twitter.com/k5601lCDbP
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) December 7, 2025
The cherry on top is that Democrats are pretending double tap strikes are some Trump era monstrosity. Barack Obama used them repeatedly. Three days into his presidency, he launched back to back strikes in Waziristan that killed at least twenty civilians. In 2012, another double tap killed up to fourteen people, including potential first responders. Not a single Democrat screamed war crimes then.
Duckworth’s meltdown shows exactly what this is, political theatrics from a party that suddenly discovered international law now that Trump is back in charge. The facts didn’t change. Only the president did.