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President Donald Trump further ramped up the pressure late Tuesday by of all sanctioned oil tankers into Venezuela, which has long relied on oil revenue as the lifeblood of its economy.

Hegseth said members of the Armed Services Committee in the House and Senate would have an opportunity this week to review the attack video, but did not say whether all members of Congress would be allowed to see it as well.

鈥淥f course we’re not going to release a top secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,鈥� Hegseth told reporters as he exited a closed-door briefing with senators.

Trump’s Cabinet members overseeing national security were on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to defend a campaign that has killed at least 95 people in on vessels in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Overall, they defended the campaign as a success, saying it has prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and they pushed back on concerns that it is stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters the campaign is a 鈥渃ounter-drug mission鈥� that is 鈥渇ocused on dismantling the infrastructure of these terrorist organizations that are are operating in our hemisphere, undermining the security of Americans, killing Americans, poisoning Americans.鈥�

Lawmakers have been focused on the Sept. 2 attack on two survivors as they sift through the rationale for a broader U.S. military buildup in the region. On the eve of the briefings, the U.S. military said it believed to have been smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing eight people.

Lawmakers left in the dark about Trump’s goal with Venezuela

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Hegseth had come 鈥渆mpty handed鈥� to the briefing, without a pledge to more broadly release the video of the Sept. 2 strike.

鈥淚f they can鈥檛 be transparent on this, how can you trust their transparency on all the other issues swirling about in the Caribbean?鈥� the New York Democrat said.

Senators on both sides of the aisle said the officials left them in the dark about Trump’s goals when it comes to President or sending U.S. forces directly to the South American nation.

鈥淚 want to address the question, is it the goal to take him out? If it鈥檚 not the goal to take him out, you鈥檙e making a mistake,鈥� said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who defended the legality of the campaign and said he wanted to see Maduro removed from power.

The U.S. has deployed warships, flown fighter jets near Venezuelan airspace and as part of against , who has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. military operations is to force him from office. Maduro said on a weekly state television show Monday that his government still does not know the whereabouts of the tanker鈥檚 crew. He criticized the United Nations for not speaking out against what he described as an 鈥渁ct of piracy鈥� against 鈥渁 private ship carrying Venezuelan oil.鈥�

Maduro’s government for years has evaded U.S. oil sanctions by smuggling its crude into global supply chains on a shadow fleet of unflagged tankers.

Trump’s Republican administration has not sought any authorization from Congress for action against Venezuela. The go-it-alone approach, experts say, has led to problematic military actions, none more so than the strike that killed two people who had climbed on top of part of a boat that had been partially destroyed in an initial attack.

鈥淚f it鈥檚 not a war against Venezuela, then we鈥檙e using armed force against civilians who are just committing crimes,鈥� said John Yoo, a Berkeley Law professor who helped craft the George W. Bush administration’s legal arguments and justification for aggressive interrogation after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. 鈥淭hen this question, this worry, becomes really pronounced. You know, you鈥檙e shooting civilians. There鈥檚 no military purpose for it.”

Yet for the first several months, Congress received little more than a trickle of information about why or how the U.S. military was conducting the operations. At times, lawmakers have learned of strikes from social media after the Pentagon posted videos of boats bursting into flames.

Hegseth now faces language included in an that threatens to withhold a quarter of his travel budget if the Pentagon does not provide unedited video of the strikes to the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services.

The demand for release of video footage

For some, the controversy over the footage demonstrates the flawed rationale behind the entire campaign.

鈥淭he American public ought to see it. I think shooting unarmed people floundering in the water, clinging to wreckage, is not who we are as a people,” said Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican who has been an outspoken critic of the campaign.

But senators were told the Trump administration won鈥檛 release all of the Sept. 2 attack footage because it would reveal U.S. military practices on intelligence gathering, said Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. She said the reasoning ignores that the military has already released footage of the initial attack.

鈥淭hey just don鈥檛 want to reveal the part that suggests war crimes,鈥� she said.

Some GOP lawmakers are determined to dig into the details of the Sept. 2 attack. Adm. Frank 鈥淢itch鈥� Bradley, who ordered the second strike, was expected back on Capitol Hill on Wednesday for classified briefings with the Senate and House Armed Services committees. The committees would also review video of the Sept. 2 strikes, Hegseth said.

Still, many Republicans emerged from the briefings backing the campaign, defending their legality and praising the 鈥渆xquisite intelligence鈥� that is used to identify targets. House Speaker Mike Johnson called the strike 鈥渃ertainly appropriate鈥� and 鈥渘ecessary to protect the United States and our interests.鈥�

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Associated Press writer Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed reporting.

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