Trump Never Told Congress About Disastrous SEAL Mission in North Korea
The 2019 intelligence operation left several people dead.

President Donald Trump never told Congress about a disastrous 2019 intelligence mission targeting North Korea that turned deadly, The New York Times reported Friday.
The Times spoke with two dozen people with knowledge of the incident, which had never been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government.
In 2018, SEAL Team 6 was charged with planting an electronic device that could intercept communications from the reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, amid high-level talks between the United States and North Korea. In early 2019, the SEALs set out toward North Korea in a nuclear submarine, and Trump gave the final go-ahead to proceed with the mission.
After breaking off in mini-submarines and swimming to shore, the SEALs spotted a North Korean vessel close to the mini-subs. Unsure whether they’d been spotted, the SEALs opened fire, killing everyone on board.
Upon inspection the SEALs found no weapons or uniforms on the boat, and determined that the two or three North Korean crew members had been civilians diving for shellfish, according to officials briefed on the mission. The bodies were pulled into the water, the mission was aborted, and the SEALs escaped unharmed.
A classified military review found that the killing of civilians was justified under the rules of engagement, but the Trump administration never told congressional committees overseeing military and intelligence about the operation, or the military review.
Matthew Waxman, a law professor at Columbia University who served in senior positions at the State Department, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Council under President George W. Bush, told the Times that Trump’s failure to report to Congress may have violated federal law, which places a burden on the executive to notify Congress of consequential missions.
A former government official told the Times that key members of Congress had eventually been briefed on the mission by former President Joe Biden in 2021. The review remains classified.
The incident raises concerns about the efficacy of SEAL Team 6, which has been criticized for its uneven track record and for staging overly complicated missions. It seems that despite rehearsing for months, the SEALs had no contingency plan for spotting groups of civilians fishing, besides cold-blooded murder. They were then shielded from all accountability for the incident, and many involved in the mission were later promoted, the Times reported.
This latest Times report follows another murky military action rubber-stamped by Trump earlier this week, when the Pentagon carried out a deadly strike on a boat officials claimed was carrying drugs. Not only has the Trump administration struggled to keep its story straight, but it has failed to provide any legal authority for the strike, let alone any evidence to back up its claim that the crew members were so-called “narco terrorists.”