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The White House said Monday that a Navy admiral acted “within his authority and the law” when he ordered a second, follow-up strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean Sea in a September U.S. military operation that has come under bipartisan scrutiny. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt offered the justification for the Sept. 2 strike after lawmakers from both parties on Sunday announced support for congressional reviews of U.S. military strikes against vessels suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, citing a published report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order for a second strike that killed survivors on the boat in that incident. Leavitt in her comments to reporters on Monday did not dispute a Washington Post report that there were survivors after the initial strike in the incident. Her explanation came after President Donald Trump a day earlier said that he “wouldn’t have wanted that — not a second strike” when asked about the incident. “Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes,” said Leavitt, referring to U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Frank Bradley, who at the time was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command. “Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated.” The lawmakers said they did not know whether last week’s Post report was true, and some Republicans were skeptical. Still, they said the reports of attacking survivors of an initial missile strike posed serious legal concerns and merited further scrutiny. “This rises to the level of a war crime if it’s true,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, when asked about a follow-up strike aimed at people no longer able to fight, said Congress does not have information that happened. He noted that leaders of the Armed Services Committee in both the House and Senate have opened investigations. “Obviously, if that occurred, that would be very serious and I agree that that would be an illegal act,” Turner said. Trump on Sunday vigorously defended Hegseth. “Pete said he did not order the death of those two men,” Trump said. He added, “And I believe him.” Leavitt said Hegseth has spoken with members of Congress who may have expressed some concerns about the reports over the weekend. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also spoke over the weekend with the four bipartisan lawmakers leading the Senate and House Armed Services Committees in which he reiterated “his trust and confidence in the experienced commanders at every echelon,” Caine’s office said in a statement. The statement added that the call focused on “addressing the intent and legality of missions to disrupt illicit trafficking networks which threaten the security and stability of the Western Hemisphere.” Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday broadly defended the operations, echoing the Trump administration position that they’re necessary to stem the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States. “I don’t think you want to draw any conclusions or deductions until you have all the facts,” Thune said of the Sept. 2 strike. “We’ll see where they lead.” After the Post’s report, Hegseth said Friday on X that “fake news is delivering more fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland.” “Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command,” Hegseth wrote. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Hegseth a “national embarrassment” over his response to critics. Schumer added that the armed services committees should demand that Hegseth release the video of the strike and testify…

A federal jury in Miami has partially sided with rap superstar Megan Thee Stallion in her lawsuit against a Houston-based online commentator. The Grammy-award-winning performer, whose legal name is Megan Pete, had accused Milagro Cooper of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and promotion of an altered sexual depiction — an AI-generated deepfake that purported to show Pete in a pornographic video. It did not. Cooper was sent a link to the video while doing a livestream in June 2024 and, while debating its authenticity, tweeted to her then-20,000 followers they could find a link in her likes, according to testimony in the eight-day trial. After determining it was fake, her lawyer Jeremy McLymont told jurors, she deleted the link during the same livestream. On Monday, the jury found Cooper liable for promoting an altered sexual depiction and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Pete was awarded $59,000 in damages but had been seeking tens of millions in compensatory and punitive damages. While the jury also found Cooper defamed Pete by accusing her of lying under oath in testimony against another rapper who shot her in 2020 – and awarded $16,000 in damages for that defamation – the judge said she would not include the jury’s defamation finding in her final order. That’s because the jury also found Cooper qualified as a media defendant, which required Pete to file in pre-suit notice with Cooper in order to prevail on a defamation claim. Pete did not do that so the judge said she would not include the defamation judgement in her final order. The defense, though, has an opportunity to argue the defamation count should ultimately be included in whatever findings the court subsequently makes. The defense is also seeking attorneys’ fees in an amount yet to be determined, based on the jury finding Cooper “willfully and maliciously promoted, without Ms. Pete’s consent” an altered sexual depiction of Pete. “Ms. Cooper ultimately prevailed on Ms. Pete’s leading accusation, Defamation, and the jury awarded a nominal amount of damages compared to millions of dollars Ms. Pete demanded from Ms. Cooper throughout the course of the litigation,” Cooper’s legal team said in a statement. “While we do not agree completely with the jury’s verdict, we respect its verdict, and we thank the jury for giving us their time and attention for more than two weeks,” the statement said in part. Pete alleged Cooper was paid thousands of dollars to attack her by people connected to the rapper Tory Lanez, who opened fire in Pete’s direction in 2020, resulting in a bullet fragment entering Pete’s foot. She testified against Lanez, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

A man accused of sexually assaulting a teen with mental disabilities in Fort Lauderdale is facing charges nearly a year the alleged crime. Paul John, 59, was arrested on Nov. 27 on a sexual battery charge, Broward jail records showed. Paul John According to an arrest report, the incident happened back on Dec. 6 of 2024. John was driving his Chevrolet Camaro when he approached the teen as he was walking along Northeast 15th Street and East Sunrise Boulevard, the report said. Detectives said John offered the teen a job to work on his boat and even spoke with the teen’s mom, who told him that her son had a disability so he would need to be patient if he hired him. John is then accused of taking advantage of that trust, taking the teen back to his home to clean a boat before taking him to a gay strip club and to play pool, police said. When they returned to John’s house, the teen told detectives that he raped him, the report said. The teen’s mother said she realized something wasn’t right when her son’s demeanor drastically changed. They took him to the hospital and called police. Detectives said there are at least eight similar cases involving John. John appeared before a judge, who ordered him held without bond and ordered him to have no contact with the alleged victim.

Dramatic new body camera video from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office shows a shootout involving a sergeant and an armed suspect who was killed back in September. The sheriff’s office on Monday released the footage that shows the fatal Sept. 16 encounter with 44-year-old Jose Pineda Jr. Jose Pineda Jr. The incident began when officials said they received a 911 call about a man waving a gun at people outside of Davis Grocery in the 21600 block of Southwest 120th Avenue. “There’s a guy in a Honda…he’s pulling a gun out on everybody, please send the police, hurry up now,” the person says in the call, also released by the sheriff’s office. A sheriff’s office sergeant responded and told Pineda, who was in the van, to show his hands, but Pineda responded that he didn’t have any hands. Moments later, the video shows a barrage of bullets being fired as the sergeant and Pineda both opened fire. The sergeant took cover behind a pickup truck then fired a few more shots and got on his radio. “Shots fired, shots fired!” he yells. “Watch for crossfire, he’s armed!” A second deputy responds as Pineda got out of the van and ended up on the ground, injured, with his gun laying next to him, the video showed. The gun is kicked away as Pineda is placed in handcuffs. He was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries. Photos released by the sheriff’s office showed the sergeant’s vehicle was struck by gunfire. A Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office vehicle was damaged in a shootout on Sept. 16, 2025. Another photo showed the gun that was recovered at the scene. No deputies were injured in the shootout. The incident is being investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is standard practice in police shootings. “It looks from the video like it was appropriate action taken by the officer. He gives commands, they’re loud, they’re clear,” said former Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina. “… Unfortunately, sometimes you have no choice but to have to fire. We don’t know what this person’s mindset was, if this was a suicide by cop-type scenario, but the deputy doesn’t have an opportunity to contemplate that. At that moment, he needs to concern himself with defending his own life.”