President Donald Trump answered questions about a controversial Sept. 2 boat strike while in the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon. Trump, who said Tuesday that he "didn't know" about a second strike on an alleged drug boat in September that reports say killed two survivors of an initial strike, said Wednesday that he would be open to releasing more video of the boat strike.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that he didn't see the second strike and didn't see survivors from the initial strike. Hegseth has backed Adm. Mitch Bradley, who the White House said made the decision for the second strike. Bradley is set to brief the Senate and House Armed Services committees on the strikes on Thursday.
Rand Paul slams White House response to second strike
Republican Sen. Rand Paul characteristically broke with the majority of his GOP colleagues in his reaction to growing accusations of war crimes facing the Pentagon following the reveal of the second boat strike in September, which, according to reports, targeted survivors of an initial strike.
Paul said he had concerns about reports that Hegseth gave an order "that would say, 'kill them all,'" words the White House denied Hegseth said.
He also said he had concerns about the conflicting explanations about who knew about the details and when.
Most Republican senators responded to repeated questions about the Sept. 2 strikes by sidestepping and saying they support the overall mission in the Caribbean.
Sen. Eric Schmidt told reporters there was "100% legal justification for taking out the narco-terrorist boats."
-ABC News' Jay O'Brien, Emily Chang and Allison Pecorin
Dec 02, 2025, 4:28 PM EST
Trump touts $6.25B donation, says 'Trump accounts' are 'trust funds for every American child'
From the Oval Office on Tuesday, President Donald Trump touted the sweeping $6.25 billion contribution from philanthropic billionaires Michael and Susan Dell that builds on his "Trump account" initiative.
The donations from the Dells will deposit $250 into savings accounts for 25 million children ages 10 and under. They apply to children living in ZIP codes where the median income is below $150,000.
Tech billionaire Michael Dell speaks as his wife Susan Dell and U.S. President Donald Trump look on while making an announcement about "Trump accounts" in the Roosevelt Room at the White House on Dec. 2, 2025 in Washington.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
"Trump accounts will be the first, I guess you could say, real trust funds for every American child, allowing family members, employers, corporations, generous donors to contribute money that will be invested and grow over the course of a child's life, to be used for their benefit after they turn 18," Trump said on Tuesday.
Flanked by the Dell couple and a few key members of Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump highlighted the fact that the "Trump account" came out of his major policy framework -- the One Big Beautiful Bill Act -- that passed this summer.
President Donald Trump greets CEO of Dell Technologies Michael Dell in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, December 2, 2025.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
"Michael and Susan, I want to thank you for this extraordinary act of kindness and patriotism and charity. This is truly one of the most generous acts in the history of our country," Trump said on Tuesday. "As I mentioned, this gift is being made possible by the largest tax cuts in American history, which our Republican majorities passed earlier this year."
Trump said that in addition to the Dells’ contribution, he expects "hundreds of major companies to announce plans to contribute to these accounts in the coming months."
Trump also said that contributions from employers to these Trump accounts will be tax free.
-ABC News' Elizabeth Schulze and Isabella Murray
Dec 02, 2025, 3:17 PM EST
Schumer calls on Hegseth to publicly release video of Sept 2 boat strikes
In remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday morning, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to publicly release the full video of the attack on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea on Sept. 2, which killed survivors of a military strike against a suspected drug boat.
"Pete Hegseth should release the full tapes of the Sept. 2 attack. Both the first and second strike. Not a clip. Not some edited or redacted snippet. The full unedited tapes of each strike must be released so the American people can see what happened with their own eyes," Schumer said on the Senate floor. "Now Pete Hegseth said he did nothing wrong. So prove it."
Schumer called the "failure of leadership" at the Pentagon a "national embarrassment."
Schumer called for Department of Defense briefings on the strikes and said that Hegseth should be present for those briefings.
-ABC News' Allison Pecorin
Dec 02, 2025, 3:05 PM EST
'I don't want them in our country': Trump slams Somali immigrants
Trump continued to go after Somali immigrants in Minnesota, alleging that they had been "ripping people off."
"They contribute nothing. I don't want them in our country," the president said.
President Donald Trump stands at the end of a cabinet meeting at the White House, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
There are more than 58,800 Minnesotans of Somali descent as of 2018, according to the Minnesota government.
Trump referred to the Somalis as "garbage" and claimed that all they do is "complain."
"We don't want them in our country. Let them go back to where they came from and fix it," he said as he ended the meeting and received applause from Cabinet leaders.
