Dems should ready subpoenas over what military lawyers told Trump: ex-aide

U.S. President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in a cabinet meeting at Camp David in Thurmont, Maryland, U.S., July 31, 2026. REUTERS/Daniel Heuer

Former chief of staff to the Department of Homeland Security Miles Taylor thinks Democrats should be preparing for the subpoenas to roll out on day one of the new Congress.

While Taylor specifically referred to a recent “lethal kinetic strike[s]" being carried out by U.S. Southern Command that killed two people in the eastern Pacific, he argued it could apply across the board.

Writing for his Substack "Defense.org" Taylor noted that President Donald Trump's administration continues to carry out bombings on boats it claims are running drugs into the U.S. One such bombing was announced on Monday.

"They were obliterated from the air on the say-so of a classified Trump 'kill order' no U.S. court has ever reviewed," Taylor explained.

According to Taylor, Trump was never joking when he said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue.

"This is the same man who said earlier this year the only limitation on his power is his 'own morality,'" said Taylor. "And I can tell you from firsthand experience in meetings with the man, he thinks a good bit about killing and torturing people."

An extensive report from The Atlantic in July revealed that the bombings have failed to slow or stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. But that may never have been the actual purpose, the report said.

Taylor and legal analysts have said that the bombings are illegal. But the former Trump administration official also noticed that for the past few months, the bombings had paused. This could have something to do with the administration being overwhelmed by a failed war in Iran. Or, as Taylor assessed, "the pause reflects cold feet somewhere inside our government." He made it clear that drug traffickers likely didn't take the summer off. It could be that military lawyers finally said something that made the administration worried about the legality of the actions.

Taylor suspected that the person was likely removed or reassigned so the bombings could continue.

"If that’s what happened, Trump officials were right to be nervous. Killing civilians without trial is a pretty dirty business, and merely slapping a label on them — like 'unlawful enemy combatants' — doesn’t make them allowable military targets," Taylor warned.

Anyone who ordered, approved or was connected to it can go to prison, Taylor said. It doesn't matter what a Department of Justice memo says.

He also noted that while he was in his post during the first Trump administration, cases like this happened often. There were a lot of boats. In those cases the boats were stopped and boarded by the U.S. Coast Guard. The suspects were then arrested. None were executed on the spot as Trump now does.

"If you actually want to stop the drugs, you must stop the boat. You don’t sink it. When U.S. forces capture smugglers, they interrogate them and flip them. Then they map the network (from the financiers and the port officials to the cartel lieutenants) and roll up the entire operation," Taylor said.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) revealed that he's read the details of the cases and there were likely people killed who weren't narcotrafficking.

To Taylor's ear, it sounds like the start of an investigation and as Democrats prepare to take over if they win in 2026, they should be prepared to issue subpoenas to learn what lawyers told the Pentagon and the president.

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