Hegseth slams Fox reporter at press conference: ‘You've been about the worst'
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attacked Jennifer Griffin, his former colleague at Fox News and a longtime member of the Pentagon press corps, amid a broader push to discredit media outlets reporting on intelligence laying out the extent of damages done by U.S. strikes to Iranian nuclear sites.
'Do you have certainty that all the highly enriched uranium was inside the Fordow mountain?' Griffin asked Hegseth during a contentious press conference early Thursday morning.
Griffin noted satellite imagery she said showed 'more than a dozen trucks' at the site of the attacks 'a few days in advance.'
'Of course we're watching it,' Hegseth said before attacking the reporter. 'Jennifer, you've been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally.'
Griffin sat up in her chair to push back on Hegseth's attack.
'In fact, I was the first to describe the B-2 bombers, the refueling, the entire mission with great accuracy,' she said. 'So I take issue with that.'
'I appreciate that,' Hegseth replied.
The spat came as Hegseth admonished the press corps for its coverage of the strikes on the three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend, arguing members of the media should be more focused on the details and danger of the mission carried out by U.S. service members rather than leaked intelligence showing the damage might not have been as severe as President Trump and the administration claim.
Trump and other top administration officials have dismissed what they are calling 'early' intelligence that was leaked to outlets including CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post, leading the president and his allies to attack journalists who reported on the materiel.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters earlier this week that the individual who leaked the intelligence to journalists show 'be in jail.'
Griffin is a longtime Pentagon correspondent for Fox, known widely for her reporting on military and foreign affairs.
She reported earlier this spring on Hegseth's sharing of 'classified' information via the Signal group chat with Trump's Cabinet members, citing sources at the time who told her it put 'the joint force directly and immediately at risk.'
Later on Fox's air, chief political analyst Brit Hume criticized Hegseth over his attacking of Griffin and defended her journalistic prowess.
'I'd like to say a word if I may, Dana, about Jennifer Griffin, who was attacked by the Defense Secretary today,' Hume said. 'An attack she certainly in my view did not deserve. Her professionalism, her knowledge, her experience at the Pentagon is unmatched. I have had and still have the greatest regard for her. The attack on her was unfair.'
Updated: 11:22 a.m. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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