The Pentagon may have announced four more U.S. service members were killed as Donald Trump’s Iran war rages, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth kicked off his briefing early Friday by blasting the media in a wild rant about the coverage of “Operation Epic Fury.”
U.S. Central Command shared Friday that at least four of the six crew members who went down in the KC-135 refueling aircraft in western Iraq have died. The rescue and recovery effort is ongoing.
But Hegseth started his remarks on Friday by attacking CNN and whining that the press was not delivering the war propaganda he wanted to see in its headlines.
“More fake news from CNN, reports that The Trump Administration Underestimated the Iran War’s Impact on the Strait of Hormuz," Hegseth read. "Patently ridiculous, of course. For decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage.”
The defense secretary was taking aim at a CNN report late Thursday from multiple sources that the Pentagon and National Security Council “significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes.”
“CNN doesn’t think we thought of that,” Hegseth ranted. “It’s a fundamentally unserious report. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
Ellison is the pro-Trump Paramount CEO who restructured CBS News and is now working on a merger with CNN’s parent company Warner Bros Discovery.
A CNN Spokesperson in a response to Daily Beast said, “We stand by our reporting.”
Shipping through the crucial Strait of Hormuz has seen significant disruptions since the war began, causing some countries to cut oil production because it cannot access the ships needed to export it. The price of oil has skyrocketed as Americans are seeing a surge in gas prices.
The administration has been left scrambling to tap into Strategic Petroleum Reserves and lift sanctions on Russian oil to help with the strain on supply.
Hegseth insisted they “don’t need to worry about it” on Friday.
And he was not done freaking out at the press.
“Another example of a fake headline that I saw yesterday: War Widening,” Hegseth wailed. “Here’s a really headline for you or an actual patriotic press. How about: Iran Shrinking, Going Underground?”
“You see Iran’s leaders are hiding in bunkers and moving into civilian areas. The only thing that is widening is our advantage, not to mention our Gulf partners stepping up even more now,” Hegseth declared.
The former Fox News host also made what he called “a few suggestions” about the banners seen on television screens about the war.
“People look up at the TV, and they see banners. They see headlines. I used to be in that business, and I know that everything is written intentionally,” Hegseth moaned.
“For example, a banner or a headline: Mideast War Intensifies, splashing on the screen the last couple of days alongside visuals of civilian or energy targets Iran has hit because that’s what they do. What should the banner read instead? How about Iran Increasingly Desperate? Because they are. They know it, and so do you, if it can be admitted,” he insisted in a high pitched diatribe.
Even before the briefing started on Friday, the Trump Pentagon, which just last year overhauled its permanent press corps and replaced it instead with friendly pro-MAGA faces, was picking and choosing which outlets would get access.
The Atlantic’s Nancy Youssef, who covers the Defense Department and national security, shared in an X post that she was denied access to the briefing.
“I, along with print photographers, have been denied entry to cover today’s Pentagon briefing. All other media were allowed in,” wrote the former Daily Beast reporter.
Youssef on Thursday wrote about how Iranian regime change appeared to be a lost cause and questioned the war endgame for the U.S. and Israel.
In response to Daily Beast’s inquiry about why she was blocked from attending, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said The Atlantic was still welcomed but argued it was making room for other outlets.
“Every seat in the room, with the exception of one of the credentialed outlets, had one representative per outlet in the room. Nancy Youssef of The Atlantic was one of 10 other reporters that we could not accommodate due to space,” she said. “Because The Atlantic has already attended every briefing to date since Operation Epic Fury began, we gave the chance for other outlets to also have the opportunity to attend.”
The denial of entry for photographers comes after The Washington Post reported this week that the Pentagon was banning photographers because of “unflattering” Hegseth photos.
Veteran former CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr slammed Hegseth’s attacks on the network in her own response on X Friday.
“Listen up Mr. Defense Secretary. CNN has had personnel in combat zones for decades. CNN has had killed and wounded and all with lives changed forever. You have a legal and moral obligation to defend the free press, even the ones you don’t personally like,” she wrote.
