MS NOW's Jen Psaki kicked off Wednesday's edition of "The Briefing" by taking Trump's Pentagon chief to task for a bizarre anti-press fixation, at a moment when he should have far more important things on his mind.
"I have something to show you," said Psaki. "This somethingis something that the Secretaryof Defense, Pete Hegseth,really, really does not wantyou to see. And it's probablynot what you're thinking."
"Imean, it's not a top secret warplan that Pete Hegsethaccidentally posted in a chat,which there's still been noaccountability for," said Psaki. "It's notphotos showing top Trumpnational security officialschecking Twitter in the middleof a military operation. Thoseexist. It's not even thisfootage of Pete Hegseth ringingin the New Year during hisprevious life as an anchor for Fox News ... Those thingsall exist. But it's not, it'snot any of those things."
"Now,the thing Pete Hegseth reallydoes not want you to see isthis photo, that one rightthere, the one on your screen,Pete Hegseth at a Pentagonbriefing, furrowing his brow as he takes questions aboutTrump's war of choice in Iran," said Psaki. "And the reason I know that Pete Hegseth doesn't want you to seethis photo is because TheWashington Post is reportingthat the Defense Department hasnow banned press photographersfrom the Pentagon briefing roomover photos his staff havedeemed unflattering."
"Just to take a step back here,which is always necessary whenyou're talking about Pete Hegseth and really a lot ofthings in this administration," said Psaki. "The United States is on the12th day of a war with Iran, andwith everything that theSecretary of Defense has on hisplate right now, the thing heis focused on is whether or notpress photographers are gettinghis good side. It seems theformer Fox News weekend hostapparently has very strongfeelings about it."
"Now, thiswould be very weird, extremelyself-involved behavior by aCabinet secretary from a farless important agency than theDepartment of Defense on a daywith far less going on," Psaki added. "But to perhaps state the obvious,there are a lot of other things Pete Hegseth should be worryingabout right now, because notonly is this war about to enterits third week with no end insight, but every single day welearn more about what adisastrous job the Trumpadministration has done inmanaging everything around thiswar."