Hegseth Gets Biblical in Latest Media Attack, Likens Press to ‘Pharisees’ | Video
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invoked the Bible on Thursday as he compared reporters to the Pharisees who opposed Jesus Christ in his latest attack on journalists scrutinizing the Iran war.
“The legacy Trump-hating press, your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors,” Hegseth said during a press briefing on Thursday. “The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation, only looking for the negative. The hardened hearts of our press are calibrated only to impugn.”
The comments came after the administration had used religious metaphors to describe its operations in Iran, including the Easter weekend rescue of a U.S. military pilot that Hegseth compared to Jesus’s resurrection. They also follow President Donald Trump’s since-deleted Truth Social post that featured an AI-generated image of him in Jesus’ likeness, sparking anger among religious conservatives. Trump has also lately been feuding with the Pope.
Hegseth, whose Defense Department’s fights with the media have made their way to federal court, has repeatedly used his press briefings on the war to attack the media. He previously criticized CNN’s coverage of the war as “fundamentally unserious” and “patently ridiculous” during a press briefing last month and said the “sooner [Paramount CEO] David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” referencing Paramount’s deal to purchase CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery.
His staffers also reportedly temporarily blocked photojournalists from covering the Pentagon press briefings last month after news organizations published photos of Hegseth the aides deemed “unflattering.” Some have since returned to the briefings.
On Thursday, Hegseth framed the media coverage of the war as “an endless stream of garbage.”
“The relentlessly negative coverage you cannot resist peddling despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops, sometimes it’s hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on,” Hegseth said. “It’s incredibly unpatriotic.”
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