What happened

President Donald Trump recently informed Congress he has “determined” that the U.S. is in a “non-international armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels and must continue to “use force in self-defense” against these “designated terrorist organizations,” The New York Times and other news organizations reported Thursday.

The administration’s confidential notice provided a legal justification for Trump’s lethal military strikes on three alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and what it called the “unlawful combatants” on board.

Who said what

The White House insisted Thursday that Trump was “merely explaining the legality of his actions — not setting new policy,” Politico said. But legal experts and some lawmakers called the memo a “dubious legal just

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