By: ScheerPost-Joshua Scheer -December 12, 2025

A Democratic senator has raised alarms over President Donald Trump’s potential use of U.S. military strikes targeting American citizens on U.S. soil by using the same justification behind such strikes on alleged foreign drug trafficking vessels.

In an interview with The Intercept, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) described the administration’s recent boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean as illegal under both U.S. and international law. She highlighted that the Trump administration has been classifying suspected drug traffickers as “designated terrorist organizations,” a label she says is arbitrary and not grounded in statute or international law.

Duckworth warned that the same rationale could theoretically be applied to U.S. citizens.

“If Trump is using this justification to use military force on any individuals he chooses — without verified evidence or legal authorization — what’s stopping him from designating anyone within our own borders in a similar fashion and conducting lethal, militarized attacks against them?”

Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi recently issued a memo instructing the Department of Justice to compile a list of potential “domestic terrorism” organizations. The directive targets groups or individuals espousing “extreme viewpoints on immigration, radical gender ideology, and anti-American sentiment” and expands upon National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 (NSPM-7), signed by Trump in late September. NSPM-7 calls for a “national strategy to investigate and disrupt networks, entities, and organizations that foment political violence” so law enforcement can intervene before violent acts occur.

The Intercept reached out to the White House, DOJ and Department of Defense to ask whether the tactics used on the Caribbean drug traffickers could be applied to domestic individuals on Bondi’s list. According to the report, all three agencies for over a month have refused to respond. The DOJ’s official statement reiterated that “political violence has no place in this country” but did not address whether lethal force could be used domestically.

Legal experts caution that these actions reflect an expansion of executive power beyond established limits. Rebecca Ingber, former State Department lawyer and Cardozo Law professor, emphasized that the administration’s labeling of alleged cartel members as terrorists demonstrates few legal checks on the president’s authority to deploy deadly force. She noted Congress must act to curb the administration’s interpretation of NSPM-7 and prevent potential misuse domestically.

Historically, the U.S. government has conducted targeted killings abroad, including Americans, via drone strikes over the past 25 years. The strikes on alleged drug boats, however, represent a major escalation, raising fears of a precedent for lethal action against domestic targets. Commentators have noted that past administrations, including President Obama, set legal precedents for drone strikes that may have influenced these actions.

Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, admitted that the drone attacks killed at least four Americans, three of them accidentally. So indeed, a precedent has been set by previous commanders-in-chief.

Sen. Duckworth’s warning underscores growing concern that the Trump administration may use military force without legal authorization, threatening civil liberties and raising questions about the boundaries of executive power.

God, what a time to be an American, Mr. President — and yet we are not one of those ‘shithole’ countries he speaks of.

A couple of updates regarding Ken Klippenstein: first, we reported earlier about the FBI and Antifa; later, Klippenstein tweeted about the scary trend of the FBI investigating young people under the guise of counterterrorism. At the same House Homeland Security Committee hearing, FBI official Michael Glasheen, operations director of the Bureau’s National Security Branch, addressed these issues.

Then on Democracy Now from Dec. 8, Ken Klippenstein discuses that leaked memo from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi directing the Justice Department and FBI to compile a list of groups that could be labeled “domestic terrorism” based on political views on immigration, gender and U.S. policy. The memo, expanding on President Trump’s NSPM-7 directive, targets not only left-leaning organizations but anyone perceived as opposing Trump’s policies, with financial incentives offered for reporting alleged extremists.

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