'Deeply Troubling': Military Expert Warns Trump Is Unilaterally 'Deciding To Kill People'

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‘Deeply Troubling’: Military Expert Warns Trump Is Unilaterally ‘Deciding To Kill People’
by Ailia Zehra | September 16, 2025 - 5:33am

— from Alternet


Rachel VanLandingham, a retired Judge Advocate General's Corps officer, strongly criticized President Donald Trump over his announcement that the U.S. military forces “literally shot out a boat” believed to be carrying narcotics from Venezuela.

During an appearance on CNN Monday, she said the administration was using "lethal force in the American people's name in a very unique manner," calling the action "deeply troubling."

"It sure looks like the president, on his own accord, is deciding to kill people, extrajudicial killings outside of an armed conflict, outside of war. And there's a binary here. The president can use lethal force, can kill people either because they're posing an imminent, deadly threat against Americans or American interests, or we're at war," VanLandingham said.

She added: "And the president has properly identified them as being a member of an armed group, either a military or some type of terrorist organization for which he has authority to to designate that we're at war against from Congress and is killing them based on their status. And we really don't see evidence of either," she continued.

VanLandingham, a former active duty judge advocate in the US Air Force, asked: "Why not just arrest them? Why not detain them and prosecute them in a U.S. court of law?"

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