Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blew a gasket when asked about recent setbacks in the war in Iran, and he responded with new threats against journalists.
The Pentagon chief has disparaged reporters as "unpatriotic" and compared them the Pharisees, the biblical scribes who played a hand in handing over Jesus to the Romans for crucifixion, and he reacted hotly Friday morning when asked about U.S. Army nuclear chief Andrew Hug, who reportedly revealed top-secret information to a stranger he met through a dating app.
"He won't work here anymore, that's an easy one," Hegseth said. "Well, we're always on the lookout for CIA threats, any internal, anyone talking out of school about things they should not. We take leaking very seriously here, informally or formally, which is why some of the reporting done by some of the people in here is incredibly problematic. They're willing to publish things based on classified information that would potentially harm those in harm's way, and we think them doing so is incredibly irresponsible and unpatriotic, and I would encourage members of the press to think twice about the lives they're affecting when they publish things in their publications, like the New York Times."
Hegseth erupted again when asked about a report that the Pentagon had briefed Congress that it could take up to six months to complete a mine sweep of the Strait of Hormuz.
"We would not speculate on a timeline," Hegseth said. "I saw that report. It was based on, again, another leak from a closed-door session, which was supposed to be classified, and apparently, allegedly, that was something that was said about we feel confident in our ability in the correct period of time to clear any mines that we identify and would encourage other countries to be a part of such an effort as well. But we're tracking that very closely."
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