‘Not wise’: Republican breaks ranks to fight Pentagon press crackdown

A Republican lawmaker is joining forces with a Democrat to reverse the controversial Trump-era restrictions on journalists at the Pentagon.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) introduced bipartisan legislation Monday that would restore press access to areas of the Pentagon that were open to reporters before restrictions imposed under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“A free press makes our country better, and the new Pentagon media restrictions are not wise,” Bacon said. “I was stationed at the Pentagon twice and saw firsthand that credentialed reporters had access to hallways, cafeterias and designated press areas, not offices or classified areas with sensitive national security information.”

According to Bacon and Jacobs, the legislation would restore reporters’ access to areas including the “Correspondents’ Corridor” and renew unescorted access to previously accessible parts of the building, among other reforms.

“Muzzling the Pentagon’s independent press corps blinds Congress and the American people to what’s happening in our name and with our money,” Jacobs said in a statement.

“Without transparency, the American people can’t trust they’re getting the truth, not propaganda, or that the military is following the rule of law,” she added.

The bipartisan push comes amid fresh scrutiny of the Trump administration’s treatment of the press.

The Treasury Department on Monday denied credentials to individual reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News for this week’s G20 finance meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, according to media reports. The news came as Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was invited to attend, political activist and writer Amy Siskind noted.