Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth used his time at a Pentagon briefing to lash out at reporters, accusing them of an unfair bias against Donald Trump. Hegseth's boss has been furious over the leaks to CNN and The New York Times that revealed the attacks on three Iranian nuclear enrichment sites, which the president has touted as a big win, did not obliterate the nuclear sites.
Hegseth even blasted Fox News Pentagon reporter Jennifer Griffin, who is very good at her job despite who her employers are. Hegseth has spent a few days claiming that "President Trump directed the most complex and secretive military operation in history, and it was a resounding success."
In history, you guys! Move over, D-Day and Desert Storm. And it was so "secretive" that Trump posted about it on Truth Social while bombs were still flying in both directions.
“Before I pass to the chairman, because you and I mean specifically you, the press corps, because you cheer against Trump so hard, like in your DNA and in your blood, to cheer against Trump," the Secretary of Defense said. "You want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of the strikes."
“You have to hope they were not effective,” he continued. “Let’s take half truths, spun information, leaked information, and then spin it, spin it in every way we can to try to cause doubt and manipulate the public mind over whether or not our brave pilots were successful.”
“How many stories have been written about how hard it is to, I don’t know, fly a plane for 36 hours?" he said. "Has MSNBC done that story? Has Fox?”
“Have we done the story how hard that is? Have we done it two or three times? So that American people understand how about how difficult it is to shoot a drone from an F-15 or 16 or F-22 or F35?" he added. "Or what it’s like to man a Patriot battery. Or how hard it is to refuel midair, giving the American people an understanding of how complex and sophisticated this mission really was?”
That's sweet, but it also has nothing to do with Trump's claims that US strikes ‘obliterated’ nuclear sites in Iran. Hegseth is a former Fox News personality who worked for a network that had to pay $787.5 million in a defamation suit for its lies over the 2020 election. Did you report on that, Hegseth? Most of us can see that this administration is trying to entangle the US in another endless and bloody war. But don't you dare question his Trumpy Bear!
UPDATE (Frances Langum): Hegseth's performance was successful, according to his audience of one.
