President Trump said Monday he would defer to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on whether to release video of a controversial military strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, shifting his stance from last week.

ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott asked Trump whether he would direct Hegseth to release video of the Sept. 2 operation, in which the military carried out a second strike that targeted two survivors of the initial attack on a suspected drug boat.

Trump disputed that he ever said he would support releasing the video.

“I didn’t say that. You said that, I didn’t say that,” Trump said. “Whatever Hegseth wants to do is OK with me.”

Last week, Trump told reporters of the video: “Whatever they have, we’d certainly release, no problem.”

But on Monday, Trump was more deferential to Hegseth, who has come under scrutiny over the operation.

“Whatever he decides is OK with me,” Trump said. “So every boat we knock out of the water, every boat we save 25,000 American lives. That was a boat loaded up with drugs. I saw the video. They were trying to turn the boat back to where it could float. And we didn’t want to see that.”

Hegseth on Saturday declined to commit to releasing video of the second strike.

“So, whatever we were to decide to release, we’d have to be very responsible about, we’re reviewing that right now,” he added.

Politico reported Monday that lawmakers are threatening to withhold a quarter of the travel budget for Hegseth until he provides Congress with the videos of the boat strikes in question.

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.