Left-Wing CNN Panelists Claim With Straight Faces Blasting TdA Boat Was ‘War Crime’

Left-wing panelists, including a Democratic congressional candidate and a former Clinton administration official, claimed on Tuesday that the destruction of a boat carrying members of the Venezuelan prison Tren de Aragua (TdA) was a “war crime.”

President Donald Trump announced that forces assigned to United States Southern Command carried out a strike against a vessel carrying 11 members of TdA in a Sept. 2 post on Truth Social that included a 29-second video of the strike taking place. National Review writer Caroline Downey said that targeting the boat was intended to restrict the supply of drugs entering the U.S. (RELATED: Dems Are Losing Their Minds Over Trump’s ‘Smell Of Deportations In The Morning’ Post)

“Even with the drug conversation here, this is a war crime and if they’re willing to do it to a random boat in the Caribbean, what will they do to us? This isn’t working, Democratic congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh of Illinois claimed, with CNN legal commentator Jim Schultz responding, “You, too, said this is a war crime. You have no facts to support that. None whatsoever. No facts to support it.”

WATCH:

“You have no facts to say these are terrorists — this is it — like, I don’t understand how you think this is appropriate,” Abughazaleh said, with Schultz responding, “And please tell me — this isn’t a war crime.”

Vice President J.D. Vance clashed with Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky over the strike after Paul criticized Vance for praising the strike.

“Killing 11 civilians with no evidence that they’ve done anything wrong. That makes the president judge, jury, and executioner. If I’m the president of United States, I don’t get to decide that I get to kill 11 civilians,” former Clinton administration official Keith Boykin claimed, with Abughazaleh adding, “Isn’t that a problem that the facts have come out and you’re saying, they deserve to die? That’s a war crime.”

“And you know another aspect of this schizophrenic Trump policy towards Venezuela? At the same time that he’s got navy boats parked off the coast of Venezuela and is making noises of war and is bombing, you know, taking out eleven civilians in a drug bonus –” “The View” co-host Ana Navarro said, before Schultz cut her off, saying, “Terrorists.”

After Schultz and Boykin clashed again over whether TdA was a terrorist group, Navarro turned to Trump’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status for illegal immigrants from Venezuela.

“At the same time that he’s doing all of that against Venezuela, again for performative reasons, in my opinion, he is ending TPS — Temporary Protective Status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who came to this country fleeing Nicolas Maduro and his dictatorship. So, which is it?” Navarro asked. “Is Venezuela so normal now that these people can return? They don’t need Temporary Protective Status and asylum in the United States? Or is Venezuela so bad that we got to go to war with them?” (RELATED: ‘You’re Full Of Sh*t’: JD Vance Doesn’t Let Dems Who Grilled RFK Jr. Get Away With Their Hypocrisy)

“Schizophrenia,” Boykin claimed, with Navarro adding, “You got to pick one.”

Trump issued multiple executive orders to address illegal immigration on Jan. 20, 2025, including one that designated TdA, the El Salvadoran prison gang MS-13 and Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

Vice President JD Vance issued a stern warning to the cartels, saying that they would be “literally blown to bits” for their activities. At the same time, reports suggest that the U.S. deployed fighter jets to Puerto Rico for similar operations against cartels.

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