President Donald Trump’s attempt to clean up the political firestorm surrounding Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday only deepened the crisis, as a string of contradictory statements left viewers convinced the president was quietly distancing himself from the most explosive allegation in the Caribbean boat strike scandal.

During an airborne press gaggle aboard Air Force One, Trump was asked — directly and repeatedly — whether he believed reporting that Hegseth issued a spoken order to “kill everybody” aboard a suspected drug-smuggling vessel on Sept. 2, including two survivors who were shown on drone video clinging to the wreckage after the initial strike.

Trump’s first instinct was to distance himself from the entire episode — and to lean hard on Hegseth’s denial.

“I don’t know an

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