Pete Hegseth lashes out at reporters for questions about Trump’s Iran bombing – National
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth went on the offensive Thursday, using a press briefing to scold reporters over recent news coverage that put into question the effectiveness of the weekend’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear program.
Hegseth scolded the media for “breathlessly” focusing on an early leaked intelligence report from the Defense Intelligence Agency even though the DIA is part of the Defense Department.
He said the assessment was preliminary and had not been co-ordinated with other agencies in the intelligence community. He said other intelligence assessments have been more bullish in their assessments of damage to the sites.
His criticism of Fox News, where he had once been an anchor, was particularly cutting.
He called his former colleague, Jennifer Griffin, “about the worst, the one who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says” in his news conference.
Griffin, Fox’s chief national security correspondent, said “I take issue with that” and defended her reporting.
Earlier this week, the New York Times and CNN published details of the DIA report that found that the damage from the weekend’s strikes had only set back Iran’s uranium enrichment program by a couple of months, the bombs having failed to reach the subterranean tunnels at Fordo, and that the regime had moved out key materials in advance while anticipating an air raid.
Griffin had asked Hegseth during the briefing about whether there was any certainty that highly enriched uranium was stored at the mountain bunker, given satellite photos that showed that more than a dozen trucks were seen there two days in advance.
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“Of course, we’re watching every single aspect,” Hegseth said. “But, Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst, the one who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says.”
At another time in the briefing, Hegseth said “there was a great deal of irresponsible reporting” based on the preliminary intelligence assessment. He also criticized “biased leaks to biased publications.”
“If you want to know what’s going on at Fordo, you better go there and get a big shovel,” he said.
He also rebuked the media, claiming: “The instinct of CNN, the instinct of the New York Times, is to try to find a way to spin it for their own political reasons, to try to hurt President Trump or our country.
“They don’t care what the troops think. They don’t care what the world thinks. They want to spin it, to try to make him look bad based on a leak, of course, we’ve all seen plenty of leakers and what leakers do.”
President Donald Trump and other top administration officials have dismissed the reports this week, with Trump declaring the operation a complete success and one that “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
On Wednesday, the president reacted angrily, accusing the NYT and CNN of teaming up “in an attempt to demean one of the most successful military strikes in history,” insisting: “The nuclear sites in Iran are completely destroyed!”
In a steady stream of posts to his Truth Social platform, he’s also argued that any coverage that casts doubt on the effectiveness of the mission is an insult to the military, and the journalists who shared the leaked report “just BAD AND SICK PEOPLE.”
And on Wednesday evening, announcing Thursday’s briefing, Trump wrote that the purpose of Hegseth’s conference would be “to fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots.”
“These Patriots were very upset! After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the Success was LEGENDARY, and then, two days later, they started reading Fake News by CNN and The Failing New York Times. They felt terribly!”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters earlier this week that whoever leaked the intelligence to journalists should “be in jail.” She called the unknown party responsible for the leak “a low-level loser in the intelligence community.”
“One of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen!” the president wrote on social media after Hegseth’s briefing. “The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologize to our great warriors, and everyone else!”
Trump also emphasized his belief that Iran did not remove nuclear material from its facilities before the U.S. attacked.
“Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!” he wrote.
— With files from The Associated Press
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