WASHINGTON

US House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged the Pentagon on Tuesday to release the full video of the second strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat off the coast of Venezuela on Sept. 2.

"The full video of the ‘double tap’ strike should be released to the American people," Jeffries said at a news conference on Capitol Hill.

"So that the American people have an opportunity to determine for themselves whether that strike killing people who were shipwrecked...not presenting any threat to American military personnel, whether that kind of seemingly extrajudicial killing is consistent with American values."

His remarks came as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and senior administration officials were due to brief the “Gang of Eight” -- the leaders of each of the two parties from both the Senate and House of Representatives and the chairs and ranking minority members of both the Senate Committee and House Committee for intelligence -- in a closed session.

Congress is seeking to freeze a portion of Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon turns over video footage of the second strike from the Sept. 2 incident, which is at the center of allegations that two survivors clinging to wreckage of their boat may have been killed. Last week, the administration showed the video only to some members of Congress in a closed session.

Jeffries questioned why the administration has not yet released the video.

"If Pete Hegseth and the administration think that their actions are justifiable, what are they hiding from the American people? Release the video," he added.

The Sept. 2 strike was the first of 22 that the Pentagon has carried out, killing more than 85 people. Hegseth, in remarks Saturday, said the strikes will continue.

While the administration maintains that the strike was lawful and necessary, members of Congress and legal experts have raised doubts, with some Democrats warning that targeting survivors could amount to a war crime.