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Pete Hegseth<\/strong> has deployed his signature blend of belligerence and blame-shifting in an effort to shut down questions about his involvement in a potential war crime. Yet scrutiny of the defense secretary has only continued to intensify, with even some Republicans on Capitol Hill raising questions and promising to investigate the military\u2019s reported second strike on a Venezuelan boat in September. \u201cIf that occurred, that would be very serious,\u201d Mike Turner,<\/strong> a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said on CBS News\u2019s Face the Nation<\/em><\/a> Sunday. \u201cThat would be an illegal act.\u201d<\/p>\n Last week, the Intercept<\/em><\/a> and The Washington Post<\/em><\/a> reported that earlier this fall, Seal Team 6 conducted a \u201cdouble-tap\u201d strike on what was described as a drug boat after two men survived the initial attack. The follow-up, the Post<\/em> reported, was ordered to comply with a spoken directive from Hegseth to \u201ckill everybody\u201d on board.<\/p>\n Hegseth has broadly defended the military campaign in the Caribbean and these likely illegal tactics, which align with the vision of a \u201cwarrior ethos\u201d unbound by \u201cstupid rules of engagement\u201d that he outlined in a meeting with generals<\/a> in September. But Hegseth has also tried to dance around questions about the second strike, describing the reports as \u201cfake news<\/a>\u201d and claiming the directive was actually issued by the commander in charge of the operation, Admiral Frank Bradley.<\/strong> (Bradley has declined to comment on the matter.) \u201cI watched that first strike live,\u201d Hegseth told reporters Tuesday<\/a>, but \u201cmoved on to my next meeting\u201d before the second. President Donald Trump<\/strong> has similarly tried to distance himself from the strike: \u201cI didn\u2019t know about the second strike. I didn\u2019t know anything about the people,\u201d he said Tuesday. \u201cI wasn\u2019t involved, and I knew they took out a boat, but I would say this, they had a strike.\u201d<\/p>\n But Hegseth\u2019s response has failed to quiet critics, including those within his own party. On Tuesday, Senator Rand Paul<\/strong><\/a> spoke with skepticism about a social media post in which the defense secretary described reports of a second strike as \u201cfabricated.\u201d \u201cEither he was lying to us,\u201d said Paul, \u201cor he\u2019s incompetent and didn\u2019t know it had happened.\u201d Senator Roger Wicker,<\/strong> chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has promised \u201cvigorous oversight\u201d<\/a> in response to the reports, despite White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt<\/strong> saying that Hegseth already spoke with lawmakers \u201cwho may have expressed some concerns\u201d over the weekend. \u201cIf it is substantiated, whoever made that order needs to get the hell out of Washington,\u201d GOP senator Thom Tillis<\/strong> told<\/a> CNN Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019ve seen enough,\u201d Republican representative Don Bacon<\/strong> added, \u201cthat I don\u2019t think [Hegseth is] the right leader.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has stood by Hegseth so far, as he did during the defense secretary\u2019s Signalgate scandal earlier this year. \u201cEverybody at this table has done a fantastic job,\u201d the (rather drowsy<\/a>) president said during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, amid questions<\/a> about the standing of Hegseth, FBI director Kash Patel,<\/strong> and other administration officials. But Hegseth and other embattled Trump officials increasingly seem to be a liability to the president himself, as he faces declining approval ratings and some fractures within his normally unified party. Indeed, while many in MAGA-world deferred to Trump and Hegseth\u2014\u201cI don\u2019t think there needs to be additional oversight,\u201d Senator Tommy Tuberville<\/strong> told<\/a> Politico<\/em>\u2014some key allies of the president have expressed concern about the second strike. \u200b\u200b\u201cI\u2019m not comfortable with the two blow,\u201d West Virginia senator Jim Justice<\/strong> told<\/a> MS Now on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n