Right after we launched our campaign to #ArrestHegseth for war crimes, CBS News invited him as their guest of honor to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. It was the perfect opportunity to show up with handcuffs, protest his attendance, and launch our new campaign to Put Hegseth on the Hot Seat!
Unfortunately, an attempted shooting at the Correspondents’ Dinner became the focus of the evening, taking attention away from the powerful demonstrations happening outside. We’ve included images throughout this message so you can see the peaceful protests the media hasn’t shown you.
Hegseth’s presence at the dinner was a huge opportunity. Now that shareholders at Warner Bros. have approved the merger with Paramount (the company that owns CBS), outlets like CNN are also going to fall under the ownership of the Ellisons. But it’s not too late—federal regulators still have to approve the deal, which gives us time to put pressure on CNN to get answers from Pete Hegseth that Congress and people all over the world have been demanding.
So while CNN is still independent from Paramount, demand that CNN put Hegseth on the hot seat and get the answers we’ve been waiting for!
Our co-founder, Medea Benjamin, had a very telling interaction with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. She showed him a picture of Amal Khalil, a Lebanese journalist who was recently killed by Israel. He responded, “I don’t know who that is.” Are these the people we trust to tell us what’s going on in the world? People who don’t even know when their colleagues are suffocating under rubble?
Our primary focus in this new campaign targeting CNN is to get answers to questions that Hegseth refused to answer when Congress asked him about the Minab school bombing. These include questions about the use of AI in selecting the target and why Hegseth decided to target the school in the first place. If we want accountability for war crimes, the media needs to do its job in uncovering the truth. Based on our interactions with CNN over the weekend, it’s clear they need all the pressure they can get.
Watch the video of our campaign launch outside CNN!
On the very same day that Hegseth missed the deadline to respond to Congress, his previous banning of media outlets from fully reporting in the Pentagon, including CNN, was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge. Now that CNN can return to the Pentagon, they have more access than they’ve had in months. Before they get bought out, they need to ask Hegseth these questions:
While our demands to CNN are centered around the school bombing in Iran, that wasn’t Hegseth’s only war crime. Here’s the kind of guy we are dealing with and the crimes he’s committed or expressed intention to commit:
Hegseth is a war criminal and should be treated as such, including being interrogated for his alleged egregious war crimes. If he refuses to answer to Congress, the media should hold him accountable with tough questioning.
Sign the petition to put Hegseth on the hot seat!
Until Liberation,
Jenin, Danaka, and the entire CODEPINK team
