Politics
WATCH: Hegseth Scorches ‘Deep State’ Fox Reporter During Tense Presser: ‘You’ve Been About The Worst’
A seedy connection between “deep state” actors in the Pentagon and one reporter who allegedly carries their water was called out by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday when he ripped into a Fox News journalist who is so close with her sources that she even shares a desk down the hall.
Jennifer Griffin, the network’s chief national security correspondent, asked Hegseth at a briefing if he is “confident” that all enriched uranium in Iran’s possession was present at the three sites hit by U.S. and Israeli bombs in the past week.
“There were satellite photos showing there were more than two dozen trucks there a day in advance,” the Fox News correspondent told Hegseth, suggesting that Iranian forces were successfully able to move their payloads before the bombing.
“Are you certain none of that highly enriched uranium was moved?” she asked.
Hegseth responded that U.S. intelligence continues to monitor “every single aspect” of Iran’s nuclear program before turning on a dime and going right at Griffin over her reporting.
“Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst — the one who misrepresents the most intentionally,” he seethed as a stammering Griffin tried to reply and ask about “ventilation shafts” at the facilities.
“I was the first to describe the B-2 bombers, the [midair] refueling, the entire mission, with great accuracy. So I take issue with that,” she fired back.
“I appreciate you acknowledging that this is the most successful mission based on operational security that this department has done since you’ve been here. I appreciate that,” Hegseth replied flatly.
WATCH:
Hegseth’s comments are the second attack this week against Griffin, who has reported for Fox since 1996.
Tucker Carlson singled out his former colleague during a recent episode of his show, and his guest asserted she has a desk in the Pentagon, compromising her reporting by getting unnecessarily close to her sources.
“Jennifer Griffin is, even by the standards of Pentagon employees, she’s not technically an employee of the Pentagon. She’s a shill, obviously, for the deepest of the deep states. But she’s like a parody. She’s like parody. It’s like the whole thing,” Carlson told his guest, former Fox host Clayton Morris.
“The crazy thing is Jen Griffin is a liar, but also very liberal, true Trump hater, to the point where I complained about her and I really tried not to complain about other people at Fox when I worked there,” Carlson said.
“She was discrediting the channel, she was such a Trump hater, and it was emotional.”
When he brought his concern to Fox executives, Carlson said his appeals to distance Griffin from the Pentagon were rejected.
One executive allegedly told Carlson, “You could not touch Jennifer Griffin,” he added.
However, Griffin is not suffering anywhere near the blowback as CNN and the New York Times, which this week published pieces on U.S. intel suggesting that the bombings in Iran were unsuccessful. President Trump, Hegseth, and other high-level administration officials have forcefully condemned the reporting as “fake news” and gone so far as to cite Israeli intelligence concluding Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been delayed by years.
