Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called former Fox News colleague Jennifer Griffin “the worst” as he faced more questions about the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites on Thursday. (Watch the video below.)
The Pentagon press conference turned downright hostile as Hegseth, who once occupied the curvy couch of “Fox & Friends” before he got his Cabinet gig, slammed Griffin, the network’s chief national security correspondent.
An early Pentagon mission assessment, which was revealed by the media, determined the missile strikes may have merely delayed Iran’s nuke production by months but did not obliterate its program as Trump and Hegseth have vigorously claimed.
That also raised the question of whether Iran moved its highly enriched uranium before the attacks.
So Griffin asked, “Do you have certainty that all the highly enriched uranium was inside the Fordow mountain, or some of it, because there were satellite photos that showed more than a dozen trucks there two days in advance. Are you certain none of that highly enriched uranium was moved?”
“Of course, we’re watching every single aspect,” Hegseth replied. “But Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst, the one who misrepresents the most intentionally what the president says.”
In defense, Griffin listed several aspects of the operation she had covered, noting she has described “the entire mission with great accuracy.”
“So I take issue with that,” she said.
“I appreciate you acknowledging that this was the most successful mission based on operational security that this department has done since you’ve been here and I appreciate that,” Hegseth replied. “So we’re looking at all aspects of intelligence and making sure we have a sense of what was where.”
Earlier, Hegseth again chided the media for reporting leaks and accused members of rooting against Trump.
“You cheer against Trump so hard, like in your DNA and in your blood, to cheer against Trump. You want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of the strikes,” he said.
Griffin then appeared on “Fox & Friends,” and seconded host Brian Kilmeade’s theory that Hegseth is hellbent on getting to the bottom of who leaked the intelligence report.
“That was certainly the reason for the defense secretary to come out quite so emotionally against the press,” she said, before pivoting to a positive item on the American response to Iran’s retaliatory attack on a U.S. base in Qatar.
Griffin had previously cast doubt on Hegseth’s downplaying of the Signal chat on which a reporter was mistakenly included about an imminent strike on Yemen.
