Trump's Lethal Boat Strikes Are Murder and Constitute Impeachable 'High Crimes'
Source: Frank Bowman. "Yes, Congress can charge Donald Trump with murder.." October 19, 2026. slate.com
The Gist
The author argues that Trump's orders to blow up suspected drug boats without trying to stop or arrest the crews amount to murder under U.S. and military law, since the people killed posed no threat and the legal excuses offered are weak. Even though the Supreme Court has shielded presidents from criminal prosecution, Congress can still impeach and remove a president for such killings, because murder is a clear 'high crime'.
Conclusion
Congress can impeach and remove President Trump for murder (a 'high crime') based on his authorization of lethal military strikes on suspected drug boats, notwithstanding the Supreme Court's 2024 criminal immunity ruling.
Premises
- Trump authorized a sustained campaign of military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, killing 234 people on 70 vessels by Sept. 2026, with no attempt to stop, inspect, or arrest the crews, and in at least one case with a follow-up strike killing survivors.
- Law enforcement and military personnel may not use lethal force against suspected criminals who do not pose a threat of death or serious injury, and there is no indication that the targeted boats were armed or threatened U.S. forces (and in most cases the occupants could not even have known U.S. forces were present).
- Federal law (maritime jurisdiction statute) and the Uniform Code of Military Justice define murder as unlawful killing with malice aforethought or premeditated intent, and the strikes meet this definition because they are deliberate, policy-driven, and pre-planned rather than split-second decisions.
- The administration's justifications (fentanyl, narco-terrorist 'armed conflict' per a secret OLC memo) are factually unsupported or legally untenable, as the overwhelming consensus of law-of-war experts and a UN report conclude, and cannot be verified because survivors are killed or released abroad.
- The Supreme Court's immunity ruling shields a president from criminal prosecution but does not prevent impeachment and removal, and murder is a paradigmatic 'high crime'.
- The strikes are also bad policy: they do not reduce drug flow, they undermine intelligence-gathering and prosecutions, and they set a dangerous precedent by habituating the military to carrying out facially unlawful orders.
Assumptions
- The impeachment standard of 'high crimes and misdemeanors' includes conduct that would constitute serious crimes like murder, and Congress may decide for itself whether conduct meets that standard.
- The Supreme Court's criminal immunity doctrine does not constrain Congress's impeachment power, which is a political rather than criminal process.
- The facts about the strikes as reported (no threat, no attempts at arrest, targets unverified) are accurate and representative of all strikes.
- The OLC memo and the 'armed conflict with cartels' theory do not provide a legitimate legal justification that negates malice or unlawfulness.
- Domestic law enforcement use-of-force standards apply by analogy (or directly via maritime jurisdiction) to military strikes on civilian vessels at sea.
- Reliance on legal advice (OLC memo) does not negate the requisite criminal intent or make the conduct non-impeachable.