Pete Hegseth wanted the cameras.
The defense secretary and some of his cronies reportedly pushed two American airmen rescued after their F-15 was shot down over Iran to appear on Sunday’s season premiere of CBS’ MAGA-curious 60 Minutes, according to multiple sources who spoke to CNN.
But the airmen weren’t eager to participate. One reportedly worried he could be ordered to do the interview, while military officials were concerned that revealing details of the dramatic rescue could expose classified information during an ongoing war.
For Hegseth, however, the high-profile broadcast offered powerful political and personal optics: American troops performing extraordinary acts of heroism, with the defense secretary overseeing it all.
One allegedly “raised concerns” about being potentially ordered to appear on the program against his will. Military officials were also worried about revealing classified details of the rescue, sources told CNN.
The Pentagon often provides the media with information about dramatic events to underscore the heroism of those in uniform. But military officials were concerned that recounting details in an ongoing conflict could be dangerous.
The situation is notable as the public relations move underscores the administration’s apparent concern about Americans’ opposition to a war that’s turning into what appears to be an increasingly inescapable quagmire.
It also highlights the former Fox News personality’s focus on his image and his skills as a TV host, including his penchant for showing off while working out with military personnel. It’s a distraction for a public already questioning the capabilities of a defense secretary with limited military leadership experience as he works to end the conflict.
The news also comes amid increasing opposition to Hegseth—a man reportedly once derided as “Captain Vodka” for his drinking habits—as head of a Defense Department that has grown into its self-styled Trump administration name, the “Department of War,” much to many Americans’ horror.
Television networks and other media outlets scrambled to get interviews with the rescued men. CBS News landed the interview after President Donald Trump-friendly editor-in-chief Bari Weiss personally lobbied Hegseth and also reached out to other administration officials, according to CNN.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell called the CNN story a “complete lie.”
“The decision to participate in the interview was each pilot’s alone—because it is their story,” he told CNN. “As CNN notes, one pilot decided to participate and one did not.”
Parnell emphasized that the Pentagon took “great care to ensure operational security, sources, and methods were protected. To suggest otherwise is to denigrate every member of our military who participated in and supported the interview.”
The interviews were planned as Weiss was “cleaning house” at 60 Minutes, driving out astute, high-profile journalists who had forged hard-hitting government and corporate investigations that made the program a giant among news shows for decades.
Long-time 60 Minutes stalwart Lesley Stahl is doing another story on the Trump administration for Sunday’s premiere that is more in the tradition of the program: an investigation into Trump’s controversial pardons of criminals. Stahl will “investigate the world of lawyers and lobbyists who have created a new pardon economy,” says a promo for the episode.
