(AP) —  President Donald Trump will meet with his national security team Monday afternoon as bipartisan scrutiny mounted over a report that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order in September to strike an alleged drug vessel a second time to kill any survivors.

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have opened investigations into U.S. military strikes suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Democrats have said that the allegations first reported by The Washington Post last week could amount to a war crime. Republicans have also voiced their concerns about the legality of the Sept. 2 attack in the Caribbean.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said the second strike was carried “in self-defense and “in accordance” with laws governing armed conflict.

The U.S. administration says the strikes are aimed at cartels, some of which it claims are controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Trump, who is also weighing whether to carry out strikes on the Venezuelan mainland, confirmed Sunday that he had recently spoken with Maduro.