WASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy admiral commanding the U.S. military strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean told lawmakers Thursday that there was no “kill them all” order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, but a stark video of the attack left grave questions as Congress scrutinizes the campaign that killed two survivors.

Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers conduct an investigation after a report that he ordered the follow-on attack that killed the survivors to comply with Hegesth’s demands. Legal experts have said such a strike could be a violation of the laws of military warfare.

“Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing.

While Cotton, R-Ark., defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned the Trump administration’s rationale and said the incident was deeply concerning.

“The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Smith, who is demanding further investigation, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”

The classified sessions with Bradley, alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, provided fresh information at a crucial moment as Hegseth’s leadership comes under scrutiny. But they did little to resolve growing questions about the legal basis for President Donald Trump’s extraordinary campaign to use war powers against suspected drug smugglers. So far more than 80 people have been killed in some 20 strikes.

Late Thursday, U.S. Southern Command announced it had conducted another strike against a small boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean following a pause of almost three weeks. There were four casualties, according to the social media post.

Lawmakers have not yet specifically authorized the use of military force against the alleged drug boats, and the Republican-controlled Congress has turned back attempts to put a check on Trump’s power to engage in the missile campaign, which Hegseth has vowed will continue. Several Democrats have called for Hegseth to resign.

Congressional investigation gets underway

Lawmakers want a full accounting of the Sept. 2 strike, which was the first in what has become a monthslong series of U.S. military attacks on vessels near Venezuela believed to be ferrying drugs. The Washington Post had reported that Bradley ordered the follow-on attack on the survivors.

But lawmakers who lead the House and Senate’s national security committees in Congress came away with different descriptions of what the two survivors were doing when they were killed.

Cotton said he saw them “trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for United States back over so they could stay in the fight.”

He said there were “several minutes” between the first and second attacks, which consisted of four missile strikes. He said it was “gratifying” that the U.S. military was taking “the battle” to cartels.

But Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service.”

“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel,” he said, and who “were killed by the United States.”

The survivors did not issue any distress call or other communications, though lawmakers were told it appeared the people had a hand raised, “waving” at one point during the attacks, Smith said.

Smith acknowledged there was likely cocaine on the boat, but he objects to the Republican administration’s rationale for continued attacks on alleged drug runners who may or may not be heading to the United States. “That’s really the core of the problem with all of this,” he said. “That incredibly broad definition, I think, is what sets in motion all of these problems about using lethal force and using the military.”

Who is Adm. Bradley?

At the time of the attack, Bradley was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, overseeing coordinated operations between the military’s elite special operations units out of Fort Bragg in North Carolina. About a month after the strike, he was promoted to commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.

His military career, spanning more than three decades, was mostly spent serving in the elite Navy SEALs and commanding joint operations. He was among the first special forces officers to deploy to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. His latest promotion to admiral was approved by unanimous voice vote in the Senate this year, and Democratic and Republican senators praised his record.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has described Bradley as among those who are “rock solid” and “the most extraordinary people that have ever served in the military.”

But lawmakers like Tillis have also made it clear they expect a reckoning if it is found that survivors were targeted. “Anybody in the chain of command that was responsible for it, that had vision of it, needs to be held accountable,” he said.

What else are lawmakers seeking?

Underpinning Trump’s campaign against suspected traffickers is his argument that drug cartels amount to armed combatants because their cargo poses a threat to American lives.

Democrats are demanding the release of the full video of the Sept. 2 attack, as well as written records of the orders and any directives about the mission from Hegseth. None of the written orders or audio of verbal commands was shared with the lawmakers.

A White House Office of Legal Counsel memo providing a rationale for the strikes was dated after the fact, on Sept. 5. That memo remains undisclosed, and Democrats want it released.

Obtaining further information, though, will largely depend on action from Republican lawmakers, who have majority control of the committees, a potentially painful prospect for them if it puts them at odds with the president.

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said that he and the Senate Armed Services Committee chair, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker, have formally requested the executive orders authorizing the operations and the complete videos from the strikes, among other items. The Trump administration has repeatedly denied their requests for basic information about the operation, Reed said.

Republican lawmakers who are close to Trump have largely stood by Hegseth and the administration’s decision to conduct the strikes.

Elsewhere, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and others see the U.S. military operation as part of an effort to prompt a government change in the South American country. Maduro on Wednesday acknowledged speaking last month by phone with Trump, who confirmed the call days earlier.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A doctor who pleaded guilty to selling ketamine to Matthew Perry was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison on Wednesday at an emotional hearing over the “Friends” star’s overdose death.

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence that included two years of probation and a $5,600 fine to 44-year-old Dr. Salvador Plasencia in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles.

The judge emphasized that Plasencia didn’t provide the ketamine that killed Perry, but told him, “You and others helped Mr. Perry on the road to such an ending by continuing to feed his ketamine addiction.”

“You exploited Mr. Perry’s addiction for your own profit,” she said.

Plasencia was led from the courtroom in handcuffs as his mother cried in the audience. He might have arranged a date to surrender, but his lawyers said he was prepared to do it today.

Perry’s family describes their grief

Perry’s mother, stepmother and two half sisters gave tearful victim impact statements before the sentencing.

“My brother’s death turned my world upside down,” sister Madeline Morrison said, crying. “It punched a crater in my life. His absence is everywhere.”

She talked about the broad effect of losing him.

“The world mourns my brother. He was everyone’s favorite friend,” Morrison said, adding “celebrities are not plastic dolls that you can take advantage of. They’re people. They’re human beings with families.”

Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on “Friends,” when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit.

Who’s responsible for Perry’s death

Plasencia was the first person sentenced of the five defendants who have pleaded guilty in connection with Perry’s death at age 54 in 2023.

The doctor admitted to taking advantage of Perry, knowing he was a struggling addict. Plasencia texted another doctor that Perry was a “moron” who could be exploited for money, according to court filings.

Prosecutors had asked for three years in prison, while the defense sought just a day in prison plus probation.

Perry’s mother talked about the things he overcame in life and the strength he showed.

“I used to think he couldn’t die,” Suzanne Perry said as her husband, “Dateline” journalist Keith Morrison, stood at the podium with her.

“You called him a ‘moron,’” she said, addressing Plasencia. “There is nothing moronic about that man. He was even a successful drug addict.”

She spoke eloquently and apologized for rambling before getting tearful at the end, saying, “this was a bad thing you did!”

Plasencia apologizes to Perry’s family

Plasencia also spoke, moments after Suzanne Perry, breaking into tears as he imagined the day he would have to tell his now 2-year-old son “about the time I didn’t protect another mother’s son. It hurts me so much. I can’t believe I’m here.”

He apologized directly to Perry’s family. “I should have protected him,” he said.

Perry had been taking the surgical anesthetic ketamine legally as a treatment for depression. But when his regular doctor wouldn’t provide it in the amounts he wanted, he turned to Plasencia.

Plasencia’s lawyers tried to give a sympathetic portrait of him as a man who rose out of poverty to become a doctor beloved by his patients.

His mother stood to speak after Perry’s mother had spoken, but the judge told her it wasn’t appropriate for this hearing.

Outside the courthouse after, Luz Plasencia told reporters, “I’m sorry to the family of Matthew Perry.”

“I’m feeling what they feel,” she said. Speaking about her son, she said, “I know his heart.”

Plasencia pleaded guilty in July to four counts of distribution of ketamine. He did not plead to causing Perry’s death, and the amount he distributed was relatively small given that he sold only to Perry.

The judge said she largely agreed with a probation report suggesting the appropriate sentence was between eight and 14 months, but she went well beyond that.

“I think the judge was very well-reasoned,” Keith Morrison told reporters.

At the start of the hearing, she said that family impact statements may not be appropriate because legally, “there is no identifiable victim in this case. The victim is the public.”

But Plasencia’s lawyers said they didn’t object to family members speaking.

A doctor or a drug dealer?

The defense sought to cast Plasencia as a doctor treating a patient who was overcome by recklessness and greed.

“It was a perfect storm of bad decision-making, everybody agrees,” attorney Karen Goldstein said, adding “absolutely his judgment was clouded by money.”

Prosecutors said he was never acting as a doctor.

“He wasn’t a negligent or reckless medical provider,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Yanniello said. “He was a drug dealer in a white coat.”

Garnett generally agreed, pushing back against the defense argument that Perry was Plasencia’s patient, and that the doctor had diagnosed him in a phone call they had before the sales began.

“Mr. Plasencia kept pushing it,” the judge said. He literally was offering to sell ketamine.”

When another defense attorney, asked “Is your honor confused about how this all went down?” Garnett replied, sternly, “No I’m not.”

The other four defendants who reached deals to plead guilty will be sentenced at their own hearings in the coming months. Garnett said she would seek to make sure all the sentences made sense in relation to one another.