The White House and Department of Defense have set their sights on a familiar target: a female journalist.
CBS’s Margaret Brennan, who moderates Face the Nation and serves as the network’s chief foreign affairs correspondent, was piled on by Donald Trump officials after she posted on social media about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s eyebrow-raising comments at a press conference on Thursday.
While providing updates on Trump and Israel’s war on Iran, Hegseth—who is deeply religious and whose pastor is Christian nationalist Doug Wilson—said: “And I say the same to every American who wants peace through strength. May Almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight. And again to the American people, please pray for them every day on bended knee with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.”
The cabinet secretary’s remarks come after his department has been accused numerous times of eroding the separation between church and state.
“The Secretary of Defense tells the American public to pray for our troops on bended knee and invoke Jesus’ name....” Brennan, 45, wrote on X.
In response, the official White House rapid response account fired off at the CBS anchor: “Yes, and? Only a leftist ‘reporter’ would be offended by praying for our troops.”
Riley Podleski, an assistant press secretary at the DOD, also launched an attack on Brennan.
“The mainstream media forget their own history,” she wrote.
“George Washington prayed at Valley Forge for his army’s survival. Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote a message and included it in pocket New Testaments given to U.S. troops during World War II. General Patton gave every Third Army soldier a weather prayer card before the Battle of the Bulge, and the skies cleared soon after.”
Podleski concluded: “Margaret, you can’t change the heritage of our nation or the culture of our military!”
Members of the military, however, have raised alarm in recent weeks that U.S. commanders have been telling troops that Trump’s war with Iran is part of “God’s divine plan.”
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation—a nonprofit that advocates for service members’ constitutional right to religious freedom—said in a statement earlier this month that it has received hundreds of calls from active-duty personnel across 50 military installations, with concerned troops alleging their commanders have likened Trump’s war to a holy war.
“It’s not just the separation of church and state… It’s the fact that our commander feels as though he is fully supported and justified by the entire (combat unit’s name withheld) chain of command to inflict his Armageddon views of our attack on Iran on those of us beneath him in the chain of command,” one active-duty member wrote to the organization.
Brennan, for her part, is no stranger to criticism from Trump and his allies.
Earlier this month, Trump bashed Brennan, claiming “anyone on the street” could do her job. “I call it ‘Deface the Nation,’” he said, according to Fox News.
In September, the president and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also took aim at Brennan. Trump told the Daily Caller, “The woman on Face the Nation is so bad.” Leavitt added: “She’s stupid, you can put that on the record.”
Trump has a long history of making disparaging comments toward journalists, especially women. The president made headlines last month for lashing out at CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins for not smiling enough, and again days later for berating a Washington Post reporter for having “a very bad attitude.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Brennan’s representatives for comment.
