The Justice Department signed a secret opinion in the summer of 2025 justifying boat strikes by stating the United States was in an armed conflict with narco-terrorists.
Posted by Behind the Bastards, Checked
- Sources
- 1 contradict5 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 70%
Behind the BastardsOct 3, 2026
The core assertion holds: the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel produced a classified opinion justifying the boat strikes by asserting an armed conflict with narco-terrorist cartels. However, sources say the opinion was drafted or prepared in the summer, while WOLA reports it was signed September 5, 2025, so the claim that it was signed in summer is contradicted.
Minor detail. The sources confirm the claim; only a minor detail differs, such as a name's spelling, a title's wording or a rounding.
What was said
… The CIA is also providing the targeting assistance and intelligence necessary to conduct these strikes, according to The Guardian. Per WaPo, the Trump admin quickly moved on with an alternative plan to use the U.S. Military for these strikes. During the summer of 2025, the Justice Department signed a secret opinion justifying the boat strikes by saying that the Us. Was in armed conflict with, quote unquote, narco-terrorist, and that using lethal force against them was okay because it protected national interests and because they were a, quote, threat to the Us. Akin to a foreign nation attempting to invade. …
Behind the Bastards · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. WOLA reports the OLC memo was signed on September 5, 2025, after the first strike, not in the summer, which contradicts the claim's timing of the signing.[4]
Supports. Reuters and the Washington Post report that the Office of Legal Counsel prepared a classified legal opinion during the summer of 2025 to support lethal force against drug vessels.[1][5]
Supports. FactCheck.org and the House Judiciary document say the administration told Congress the US is in an 'armed conflict' with drug cartels, and that the classified OLC opinion relies on the premise of a formal armed conflict with 'narco-terrorist' cartels.[2][3]
Supports. The New York Times describes a secret Justice Department memo that blesses the strikes as lawful on the premise of an armed conflict with drug cartels.[6]
Context. The passage the claim was extracted from also states the memo was produced during the summer but 'not signed until September 5th of 2025', so the post itself distinguishes drafting from signing.
Sources
6 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 primary, 1 not rated, 2 tier 2
- 1US official advocated sinking boats carrying suspected drugs, witnesses sayreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Assessing the Facts and Legal Questions About the U.S. ...factcheck.org · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3[PDF] United States House of Representativesdocs.house.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 4Killing Spree: Extrajudicial executions in the U.S. boat strikes campaignwola.org · not rated · cited for: contradicts
- 5U.S. troops not liable in boat strikes, classified Justice Dept. memo sayswashingtonpost.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 6Memo Approving Boat Strikes Is Said to Rely on Trump's ...nytimes.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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