The Trump administration’s policy of conducting deadly U.S. military strikes against civilian boats in international waters has been a global controversy for months, but the burgeoning scandal took on even greater significance a few weeks ago when The Washington Post reported that the administration killed a pair of survivors after an initial strike in early September.
Almost immediately after the allegations reached the public, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a challenge to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “[R]elease the full, unedited tapes of the strikes so the American people can see for themselves,” the New York Democrat wrote in an online statement. “Your recklessness demands full transparency.”
The release of the video quickly became a key point of contention in the larger debate over the alleged war crime.
It’s also a video the beleaguered Pentagon chief intends to keep hidden from public view.
“In keeping with long-standing Department of War policy, Department of Defense policy, of course we’re not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters after a classified briefing with senators. “Appropriate committees will see it, but not the general [public].”
It was a mere two weeks ago when a reporter asked Donald Trump about releasing the full video of what transpired in the Caribbean on Sept. 2. The president replied, “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have we’d certainly release, no problem.”
Three days later, however, Hegseth hedged. “We’re reviewing the process, and we’ll see,” the secretary said at a public forum when pressed on whether he’d choose transparency.
Early last week, Trump pretended he never said what he was filmed saying days earlier, and this week, the defense secretary’s position is that Americans will “of course” not have access to the video. What’s more, the administration hasn’t even endorsed showing the video to all members of Congress.
For context, remember that Hegseth didn’t have any qualms about releasing the video of the initial Sept. 2 strike soon after it happened. Now, however, he’s apparently opposed to releasing the part of the footage that could make the operation appear more scandalous. Imagine that. To the extent that substantive details are relevant to the political debate, no one in the administration has even hinted at legitimate reasons for secrecy on this. The video is unlikely to disclose confidential sources or methods or expose any national security secrets. By all accounts, it shows shipwrecked individuals clinging to parts of a destroyed boat before they were executed by a U.S. military strike. The only reason to keep that hidden is to avoid further public embarrassment. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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