President Donald Trump has offered a baffling legal justification for his extrajudicial military strikes on vessels the government claims are transporting drugs—and it’s a disturbing escalation of efforts to declare war against his enemies.

A confidential memo obtained by The Intercept that was sent to multiple congressional committees this week asserted that the president had sweeping discretion to order the executions of alleged drug smugglers because he had declared a state of “non-international armed conflict” against boats that are part of “designated terrorist organizations.”

But if the U.S. is at war, that’s for Congress to decide—not Trump—and the administration has offered no actual evidence to back up its claims that the vessels were linked to any drug cartel at all.

The memo claimed that Trump had the authority to determine cartels were “nonstate armed groups,” and that their transport of drugs constituted “an armed attack against the United States.”

To be considered a “non-international armed conflict,” a dispute must involve an organized nonstate party, or parties, and the violence between the parties must be “sufficiently intense,” according to the United Nations. Using this justification, Trump could potentially declare war against any group—real or imagined—that he wants.

Last month, the United States launched at least three deadly strikes on vessels, two of which were from Venezuela, that the government claimed were smuggling drugs. The Trump administration offered no legal justification for the initial strike, simply claiming the president had “absolute authority” to kill anyone he claimed was a drug trafficker. But that obviously wouldn’t stand up to legal scrutiny.

Trump officials tried shifting narratives, even claiming that the initial strike was an act of “self defense,” although the boat carrying 11 people had reportedly turned around by the time it was fired upon. After another strike, Trump claimed the victims were “confirmed narcoterrorists,” though the wife of one of the dead men claimed her husband was a fisherman. Certainly none of the men on board received a trial before Trump had them summarily executed.

Senator Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, slammed Trump’s excuses in a statement to the Intercept.

“Drug cartels are despicable and must be dealt with by law enforcement,” said Reed. “But now, by the President’s own words, the U.S. military is engaged in armed conflict with undefined enemies he has unilaterally labeled ‘unlawful combatants,’ and he has deployed thousands of troops, ships, and aircraft against them.

“Yet he has refused to inform Congress or the public. Every American should be alarmed that their President has decided he can wage secret wars against anyone he calls an enemy.”

Donald Trump’s latest attempts to broker peace between Israel and Palestine include the threat of even more violence against Gaza.

In a lengthy Truth Social post Friday, the U.S. president urged Gaza’s residents to evacuate before he “extinguished” Hamas, promising to allow “all HELL” to break loose on the group if they refuse the White House’s latest ceasefire arrangement.

“As retribution for the October 7th attack on civilization, more than 25,000 Hamas ‘soldiers’ have already been killed,” Trump wrote. “Most of the rest are surrounded and MILITARILY TRAPPED, just waiting for me to give the word, ‘GO,’ for their lives to be quickly extinguished. As for the rest, we know where and who you are, and you will be hunted down, and killed.

“I am asking that all innocent Palestinians immediately leave this area of potentially great future death for safer parts of Gaza,” he continued. “Everyone will be well cared for by those that are waiting to help. Fortunately for Hamas, however, they will be given one last chance!”

Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. After their joint meeting, the president announced that the conflict had effectively come to an end, claiming that it was a “historic day for peace” so long as Hamas accepted the terms of a hostage exchange—and embraced an indefinite Israeli occupation. A 20-point plan released by a White House social media account also outlined Trump’s intention to redevelop Gaza into a real estate investment paradise—and to personally head a “board of peace” overseeing the region.

“Great, powerful, and very rich Nations of the Middle East, and the surrounding areas beyond, together with the United States of America, have agreed, with Israel signing on, to PEACE, after 3000 years, in the Middle East,” Trump wrote. “THIS DEAL ALSO SPARES THE LIVES OF ALL REMAINING HAMAS FIGHTERS! The details of the document are known to the WORLD, and it is a great one for ALL! We will have PEACE in the Middle East one way or the other. The violence and bloodshed will stop.”

Trump demanded that Hamas leadership respond to the agreement by Sunday at 6 p.m. EST.

“Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump emphasized. “THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”

Hamas was still weighing whether to accept the deal as of Thursday, reported PBS.

At least 49 Palestinians have been killed Friday alone by Israel and its ongoing starvation campaign, according to local medical sources that spoke with Al Jazeera. The war-sieged region has so far had 457 hunger-related deaths, including 152 children, since the October attack. The total death toll in Gaza since then has risen to 66,288 people with 169,165 individuals wounded, according to the Health Ministry.

Over nearly 24 months of fighting, Israel has cut off access to water, electricity, medical services, and food in the region, all under the banner of rooting out Hamas soldiers, forcing millions of people into mass suffering to satisfy its war. For decades,........

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