The Biden administration negotiates with terrorists so why not take questions from them too?

During some of the press circuses during the Trump administration, it was pretty obvious that basic standards for what a press outlet had gone down the toilet. Playboy shouldn’t have a correspondent at press briefings.

And now neither should Hezbollah.

On Wednesday, Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon press secretary, fielded a question during a briefing about tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese border from Al Mayadeen, a Lebanese outlet with ties to Hezbollah. She also took a follow-up question from the publication.

“The Pentagon is answering questions put to it directly by Al Mayadeen, a Hezbollah propaganda outlet. What the hell is any U.S. government spokesperson doing talking to Hezbollah?” wrote Michael Doran, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of its Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East.

Al Mayadeen was launched during the Syrian Civil War to provide a counterpoint to Al Jazeera siding with the Sunnis. Israel shut it down after Oct 7.

But you can look at Al Mayadeen headlines such as…

“‘Israel’ would lose war against Hezbollah within 24 hours”

“Israeli officials’ jaws drop over Hezbollah’s complex operations”

and

“The scenario of overthrowing the regime in #Iran is impossible and this is completely out of the question.”

…and decide just what it is.

The Biden administration has however decided that its personnel are journalists and the Pentagon should answer their questions.