White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt gave a fiery defense of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Wednesday when asked about his morning remarks suggesting news outlets were using six US military deaths in the Iran war to make Trump “look bad.”
“Is it the position of this administration that the press should not prominently cover the deaths of US service members?” CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked Leavitt at a briefing.
“No. It’s the position of this administration that the press in this room and the press across this country should accurately report on the success of Operation Epic Fury and the damage it is doing to the rogue Iranian regime that has threatened the lives of every single American in this room,” Leavitt retorted.
“If the Iranian regime had their choice, they would kill every single person in this room. And so we can all be very grateful that we an administration and that we have men and women in our armed forces who are willing to sacrifice their own lives for the rest of us in this room and for every American across the country.”
Collins interjected, “But Secretary Hegseth was complaining that it was front-page news about these six service members who were killed.”
“That’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlan. And that’s not what the secretary meant, and you know it!” Leavitt replied as the exchange grew heated.
“You know you’re being disingenuous. We’ve never had a secretary of defense who cares more.”
As Collins read Hegseth’s quotes, Leavitt defended him again, saying: “The press does only want to make the president look bad. That’s a fact. Especially you — no, listen to me — especially you and especially CNN. And the secretary of defense cares deeply about our warfighters and our men and women in uniform. He travels all across this country to meet with them, to connect with them. And your network has hardly ever probably reported on that.”
