The White House is preparing to hold a meeting about its strategy regarding Venezuela — as it also is gearing up for Christmas and the administration's ninth Cabinet meeting this week.

The White House confirmed CNN's reporting that Trump will hold a meeting Monday evening with members of his Cabinet and other national security leaders to discuss future actions regarding Venezuela.



The meeting comes after Trump announced Saturday that pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers should "consider" the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela closed, but he told reporters Sunday to not "read anything into it" when asked if an airstrike was imminent.

The meeting also comes amid additional scrutiny from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about the strikes, following a Friday report from the Washington Post that claimed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth instructed that no survivors remain during an attack on an alleged drug boat in September, prompting a second strike.



Hegseth denied the report, and labeled it "fabricated, inflammatory, and derogatory."

But White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed Monday that a second strike occurred, and said that commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, Adm. Frank Bradley, was within his legal right to do so.

"On September 2nd, Secretary Hegseth authorized Admiral Bradley to conduct these kinetic strikes," Leavitt said. "Admiral Bradley worked well within his authority and the law, directing the engagement to ensure the boat was destroyed and the threat to the United States of America was eliminated."

Even so, she pushed back on the Washington Post's reporting describing that Hegseth ordered that everyone aboard the ship be killed.

"I would reject that the Secretary of War ever said that," Leavitt said. "However, the president has made it quite clear that if narco-terrorists, again, are trafficking illegal drugs toward the United States, he has the authority to kill them."

Lawmakers, including the top Republican and Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, are seeking answers.

"This committee is committed to providing rigorous oversight of the Department of Defense’s military operations in the Caribbean," Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a Saturday statement. "We take seriously the reports of follow-on strikes on boats alleged to be ferrying narcotics in the SOUTHCOM region and are taking bipartisan action to gather a full accounting of the operation in question."