Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth snapped at a female reporter when asked why he only praised the “boys” who bombed Iranian nuclear facilities last weekend, when at least one woman was also involved in those strikes.
“Why not acknowledge the female pilots that also participated in this mission?” the reporter asked during a heated briefing on the mission Thursday morning. “The early messages that you sent out only congratulated the boys.”
Hegseth responded with a laugh before launching into an attack against the media as a whole.
“When I say something like our boys in bombers — see this is the kind of thing the press does, right?” the Pentagon boss replied while smirking and waving his arms. “Of course, the chairman mentioned a female bomber pilot, that’s fantastic.”
At least one female pilot was behind the controls of one of the B-2 bombers that participated in “Operation Midnight Hammer,” according to Military.com. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine confirmed a woman was involved in the mission Thursday.
“When you spin it as because I say ‘our boys in bombers’ as a common phrase, I’ll keep saying things like that whether they’re men or women,” Hegseth continued. “Very proud of that female pilot, just like I’m very proud of those male pilots and I don’t care if it’s a male or a female in that cockpit.”
There were also reportedly women onboard a submarine that launched cruise missiles at targets in Iran last week.
“It’s the obsession with race and gender in this department that’s changed priorities. We don’t do that anymore. We don’t play your little games,” the defense secretary added with a sneer.
Hegseth, who was a Fox News host prior to being tapped by President Trump to run the nation’s Department of Defense, said before taking the job that there’s a place for women in the military, but it’s not on the battlefield.
“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles,” he said on a November podcast.
One of Hegseth’s chief objectives after becoming the secretary of defense was to rid the Pentagon of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and end what he calls a “woke” culture. That includes eliminating references to race and gender on informational materials.
Hegseth’s issue with the “boys” question came 46 minutes into a press conference rife with grievance. He appeared especially upset about reports citing an early intelligence assessment of the damage done by the Iranian strikes, which indicted not all of the targets were destroyed as President Trump claimed.
“You, the press corps, you cheer against Trump so hard. It’s like in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump, because you want him not to be successful so bad you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes,” Hegseth raged.
President Trump declared immediately after the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities that the targets had been “obliterated” based on information that’s origin wasn’t clear.
With News Wire Services
