The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, stated repeatedly in 2016 on Fox News that US service members should refuse “unlawful” orders from a potential president Trump – exactly the position he called “ despicable ” when Democratic lawmakers said it last month.

The debate about whether US soldiers should refuse illegal orders is now at the center of a fiery political dispute over the US killings of alleged drug traffickers in boats off the coast of Venezuela and Columbia.

In video unearthed by CNN from March of 2016, when Donald Trump was a Republican presidential candidate, Hegseth responded to Trump’s comments in a debate by clarifying that service members did, in fact, have a duty to refuse any illegal orders. Killing of survivors sparks outrage – but entire US ‘drug boat’ war is

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