Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on Pete Hegseth facing scrutiny over potential war crime

The US Secretary of Defence is facing scrutiny for potentially having committed a war crime. 

Pete Hegseth is facing scrutiny over a strike he ordered on a boat in the Caribbean Sea suspected of smuggling drugs.  

The Washington Post reported last week that Hegseth authorised a highly unusual second strike to kill all survivors on the boat – reports Hegseth has denied.  

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that Hegseth has previously railed against the Geneva Convention and the legal rules of engagement. 

In his book, Arnold says, Hegseth shares an anecdote in which he tells the soldiers in his platoon to ignore such legal advice. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Richard Arnold, how are you? I'm so, where are we
going with us? Is this a war crime? Who's to blame?
Who made the call? Where are we at?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Well? It's ongoing. Higgs Seth is growing facing growing questions
over this deadly second strike on the alleged Venezuelan and
drug boat. After two men survived the initial US attack,
a follow up strike like this could be a war crime,
as you've been indicating in a similar incident. After this
September attack, survivors were rounded up as is the standard procedure,

(00:28):
with some Republicans along with Democrats now joining the call
for an investigation. Higgs Seth posted a cartoon joke featuring
a Canadian kids book cartoon character, Franklin the Turtle. The
higgs Seth post includes the quote Franklin targets Narco terrorists.
In his past in Iraq, HIGs Seth has railed against
the Geneva Conventions and the legal rules of engagement. He

(00:50):
wrote in his book The War on Warriors that soldiers
should ignore such legal advice. Now, higgs Seth has pointed
the finger at an Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley, who he
says is responsible for US attack on the boat bombing survivors,
says Carolyn Levitt, the Trump spokesperson.

Speaker 3 (01:05):
Secretary Haig Seth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes.
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.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Higgs says, tweeted his supposed support for this admiral quote,
he has my one hundred percent support, but hereing the
Folktion News analysts and response quote. How to point the
finger to someone while pretending to support him Democrats, says
Molten says.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
He's throwing his commander under the bus. That's what's going
on here. Haig Seth doesn't want to take responsibility for
this war crime himself, so he's immediately passing the book. Higgs.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Syth told Falktioneers that he was monitoring all this during
the attack.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
I watched it live.

Speaker 2 (01:49):
We knew exactly who was in that boat, we knew
exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who
they represented. So what did he see watching this live?
Did he see a war crime or a murder? Say.
Some Democrats give that the US has provided no evidence
that these individuals were NARCO terrorists. There are some accounts
of civilians being forced on to boats like this under
threat that if they don't, their family members might be killed.

(02:11):
Is that a story these survivors might have told Republicans
Speaker Mike Johnson says he will wait until he hears
all the facts.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
I haven't reviewed the scope of the mission.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
I haven't reviewed that particular strike.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
I don't know what went in the admiral's decision matrix.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
You know, whatever is being said right now, there are
recordings of these attacks, so we can anticipate that what
happened and the roles of individuals will at some point
income public.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
And Hernandez out, yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Now, the former president of Honduras has just been released
from prison now, where he had been serving a forty
five year term. The ex president, One Hernandez once boasted
he would quote stuff for the cocaine drugs up the
gringoes noses. He was convicted of being the key to
a drug smuggling scheme that sent more than five hundred
tons of cocaine onto American streets. That's more than four
hundred and fifty thousand kilos. He took a million dollar

(03:01):
bribe from El Chapo, directed police in the military to
protect other smugglers who paid him off. A man was
killed in prison in a bid to protect him. Now today,
New York Times has just released a four page letter
he wrote to Trump saying he quotes sends his highest respect,
esteem and blessings to Trump. He says he is an
innocent man targeted by the Biden Harris administration for political

(03:22):
purposes only, while Trump says that seems a reasonable one
to him, that this fellow Hernandez were treated unfairly. So
a dozen warships and fifteen thousand US troops off oil
rich Venezuela and I get out of jail free card
for the former Hondurant leader see product.

Speaker 1 (03:37):
Richard Arnold stateside by the way, I'll come back to
the Honduras on the bone in just a couple of moments.
Trump's lawyer harbor Elena. She got boodaedat yesterday. She's another
one who was unlawfully appointed. So I don't know where
that got. I mean, I'm assuming they're appealed the decision.
But he's not going well in that particular Department costc
meantime as suing Trump or the Trump administration to get

(03:58):
a full refund on the tariffs they've already paid. Now,
what's interesting about this, They've filed in the US Court
of International Trade, but they claim or worry that they're
risk losing the money they've already paid, even if the
Supreme Court goes with or against the Trump administration. So
I don't know which plays out first. Because the Supreme

(04:18):
Court said they were going to act fairly judiciously. Starbucks,
they're going to have to hand out thirty five million
bucks to fifteen thousand workers who will get fifty dollars
for each week they worked during the July twenty one
through July twenty four period. Came out of the New
York Department of Consumer and Worker Protection alleged violations of

(04:38):
city law requiring predictable schedules for workers. So if you
don't like your roster, you can sue and clearly win.
And Meta as an Instagram specific to Instagram This Morning,
are now requiring all US based employees to return to
the office five days a week. So that's still looking
in that part of the world. So bit going on
there isn't it.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
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