The hosts of ABC’s “The View” have escalated their attacks on the Trump administration’s national security policies, with co-host Whoopi Goldberg alleging that U.S. service members could face prosecution for “war crimes” if they follow orders because War Secretary Pete Hegseth supposedly “set them up.”
The panel was discussing U.S. military strikes targeting drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific.
The Democrat-aligned corporate media has tried to frame the operations as legally questionable, despite the Pentagon’s insistence that the missions follow established rules of engagement.
Goldberg and her cohosts repeatedly suggested the strikes were “illegal orders,” placing the responsibility squarely on Hegseth and warning that troops who carried them out could be punished.
Sunny Hostin, who frequently serves as the legal voice on the show, repeated anonymously sourced claims from the Washington Post that Hegseth ordered forces to “kill them all” after survivors were seen in the water.
It’s an allegation that Hegseth has dismissed as “fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory.”
Hostin told the panel that under international law, “you are supposed to take those fighters as war criminals, prisoners of war,” and argued that the alleged order could expose both commanders and service members to criminal liability.
“That means the person who gave the order can be held accountable and put in prison, and that means the person that conducted — the people who conducted the orders, that pulled the trigger are also responsible and can be held accountable,” Hostin said.
She went on to warn that troops “following an illegal order” could later face court-martial.
Goldberg then took the conversation further, claiming that if troops are prosecuted, it would be because Hegseth put them in harm’s way.
“Well, what he has done is he’s set them up,” Goldberg declared.
WATCH:
Hostin echoed comments made by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), who told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday that he worried service members might not realize they were carrying out “illegal orders” until after the fact.
Kelly himself is currently under Pentagon investigation for appearing in a video urging military and intelligence personnel to disobey Trump administration orders they deem unconstitutional.
The message has stunned defense officials and triggered bipartisan criticism.
While “The View” casts the strikes as unprecedented, the Trump administration has emphasized that drug-trafficking networks moving lethal narcotics into the United States are linked to designated terrorist organizations, making the operations lawful counterterror missions.
Hegseth has also noted that the Pentagon’s actions are aimed at stopping narcotics that “kill hundreds of thousands of people a year.”
It is a point President Trump recently reinforced.
The controversy now mirrors a broader trend as prominent Democrat figures and media personalities frame routine counter-narcotics operations as potential “war crimes.”
It comes even as the administration insists it is acting squarely within its authority to defend the homeland.
As Pentagon investigators continue reviewing Kelly’s video and the Washington Post’s anonymously sourced claims, the debate over the legality of the strikes is rapidly becoming the latest political flashpoint in the media’s ongoing fight with the Trump administration’s national security agenda.
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