Jennifer Griffin noted satellite imagery she said showed 鈥渕ore than a dozen trucks鈥 at the site of the attacks 鈥渁 few days in advance.鈥
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was involved in a heated exchange with one of the senior-most reporters at the Pentagon and his former colleague, Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin at the press briefing Thursday. Hegseth was addressing 鈥榠ntelligence leak鈥 claims days after the US’ strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.The verbal clash between Hegseth and Griffin came amid a broader push to discredit media outlets over reporting on intelligence laying out the extent of damages done by U.S. strikes to Iranian nuclear sites. Hegseth insisted Thursday that American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were a success, backing President Donald Trump and berating the media for questioning the results of the operation.ALSO READ: ‘Go there, get a shovel’: Pete Hegseth’s blasts media reporting amid intel leak of US strikes on IranPete Hegseth vs Jennifer Griffin鈥淒o you have certainty that all the highly enriched uranium was inside the Fordo mountain?鈥 Griffin asked Hegseth during a contentious press conference early Thursday morning, reported The Hill. The former Fox host did not answer the question, but instead attacked the correspondent.Griffin noted satellite imagery she said showed 鈥渕ore than a dozen trucks鈥 at the site of the attacks 鈥渁 few days in advance.鈥 鈥淥f course we鈥檙e watching it,鈥 Hegseth said before attacking the reporter. 鈥淛ennifer, you鈥檝e been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally.鈥 Griffin sat up in her chair to push back on Hegseth鈥檚 attack.Live Events鈥 WashObserver (@WashObserver) 鈥淚n fact, I was the first to describe the B-2 bombers, the refueling, the entire mission with great accuracy,鈥 she said. 鈥淪o I take issue with that.鈥濃淚 appreciate that,鈥 Hegseth replied. American B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs last weekend, while a guided missile submarine struck a third site with Tomahawk cruise missiles.ALSO READ: Zohran Mamdani at risk of losing US citizenship? Shocking twist as New York鈥檚 mayoral race heats upThe spat came as Hegseth launched an extraordinary attack on the press corps for its coverage of the strikes on the three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend. US media revealed a preliminary American intelligence assessment earlier this week that said the strikes only set back Iran’s nuclear program by months — coverage sharply criticized by Hegseth.Trump and his top aides have argued that 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 previously thought.Hegseth slams media”Whether it’s fake news CNN, MSNBC or the New York Times, there’s been fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment.”The document was “leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful,” Hegseth said.Trump has also lashed out at coverage of the intelligence report, calling for journalists to lose their jobs.The Trump administration has dismissed what they are calling 鈥渆arly鈥 intelligence that was leaked to outlets like CNN, the New York Times and Washington Post, leading the president and his allies to attack journalists who reported on the material.Hegseth did not definitively state that the enriched uranium and enriching centrifuges at the heart of Iran’s controversial nuclear program had been wiped out. “If you want to know what’s going on at Fordo, you better go there and get a big shovel, because no one’s under there right now,” Hegseth said, referring to the deep-underground nuclear site.(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
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