CBS News is inviting Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to join them at the White House Correspondents Dinner this weekto sit at their table, surrounded by journalists hes banned from Pentagon press conferences. Many, including journalists who work at CBS, are calling this invitation distasteful, given Hegseths attacks on truth, the First Amendment, and journalism. However, given CBSs hard pivot to the right after being absorbed into the Ellisons media sphereand with warmonger Bari Weiss at the helmmaybe its just what makes sense for CBS. This is just one example of mainstream media not only refusing to ask questions of war criminals, but blatantly befriending them.
This move is particularly interesting given Hegseths last few months.
He oversaw and commanded the operation that kidnapped the head of state of another country when the U.S. attacked Venezuela earlier this year. He also oversaw targeted strikes that extrajudicially killed Venezuelan fishermen under the auspices of drug smuggling. Just last month, he started the U.S. war against Iran by using AI to target an elementary school in Minab, killing nearly two hundred children in an instant. Hes been in lockstep with Trump in terms of genocidal rhetoric toward seemingly any country he wakes up hating that day. Now, the Hegseth War Department is reportedly planning a war on Cubaa country 90 miles away from the United States that has done absolutely nothing to us except try to send emergency medical aid after Hurricane Katrina.
The Minab school bombing has seemingly stuck with people in terms of Hegseths brutality. Surely, the deliberate targeting of an elementary school is a war crime. Shortly after the bombing, members of Congress submitted a list of ten questions for Hegseth to answer. It included questions about the use of artificial intelligence in target selection, what steps he took to mitigate civilian harm, and what coordination had been done with Israel. He was also asked what mitigation measures he would take in the future. March 20 was the deadline given to him by Congress, and the day came and went without a word from him. If the attack in Minab that killed little girls and boys had been an accident, I imagine he could have answered those questions easily. That is one of his many war crimes, possibly one of his most blatant. But a person only needs to commit one war crime to be a war criminal; it just depends on who holds him accountable. If Congress couldnt get answers to its questions, you would think outlets like CBS would be responsible for having him on their shows and demanding answers, as real journalists would. But instead, they invite him to dinner.
On top of the targeting of a school, Hegseth has also repeatedlyduring a ceasefire and delicate negotiationsthreatened to bomb Irans energy infrastructure. Intentionally attacking power plants or electric grids is a war crime under international law. If carried out as Trump and Hegseth have articulated, wiping out Irans power would mean millions of people could die in ways most people in the U.S. cant even imagine. Power in hospitals would go out, ventilators would shut down, and incubators would stop working. Food would spoil, and transportationfor the sick and injuredwould fail. Their blood would be on Hegseths hands. Yet the media keeps framing these threats as if hes bluffing, as if he hasnt ordered horrific military actions before, as if the blood of 168 little girls wont still be dripping from his hands as they sit across from him at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
At the White House Correspondents Dinner, journalists like those at CBS should be demanding answers he refused to give to Congress. With a war secretary who bans the press from his briefings, this might be their only chance to get them.
Danaka Katovich is CODEPINK's national co-director. Danaka graduated from DePaul University
David Andersson
