On Tuesday, reports emerged that journalists had received vague threats in the minutes before embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a press briefing at the Pentagon. According to online posts from reporters, the context of the threat was so unclear that even the official delivering it seemed embarrassed by the situation.
“At Pete Hegseth’s briefing this morning, an official came out to tell reporters that if anyone ‘gets out of line’ they will be ‘removed physically,’” posted Vanity Fair Washington Correspondent Aiden McLaughlin. “Reporters shouted back ‘what does that mean?’ Official said it meant to maintain ’decorum’ and added he was just relaying orders.” McLaughlin added, “A few minutes later, DOD press aide Joel Valdez walked out and said he would explain the orders off the record. Reporters asked for it to be on background. Valdez looked down at the floor and then walked out of the room without saying anything.”
Washington Post reporter Tara Copp backed this account, posting, “A security agent for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth just warned the reporters here — for Hegseth’s first press conference in 6 months — that we will be physically removed from the briefing room if we are not professional and maintain decorum. We asked if that meant no shouted questions and got no clarity. It’s the first time any of us could ever remember being threatened like this. Shouted questions are normal. ‘This is crazy town’ one journalist said, noting the White House has never threatened reporters like that.”
The reaction to the threat was swift. “An inauspicious start to the first Pentagon press briefing in six months,” noted CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter. Journalist Nancy Yousseff joked, “No beardos. No weirdos. No uncomfortable questions?” referencing one of Hegseth’s favorite tough-guy taglines. “Nothing says ‘warrior ethos’ like having your flunky threaten to remove reporters from a press conference when they ask you hard questions,” jibed Third Way cofounder Matt Bennett. “This is how fascists operate,” asserted one journalist.
Others noted that this appeared to be another chapter in the Trump administration’s attack on the freedom of the press as guaranteed by the First Amendment. And as All Rise News Editor-in-Chief Adam Klasfeld noted, ironically, the threats came just as Hegseth was about to deliver statements defending himself against allegations that he’d behaved in a manner worthy of impeachment, and allegations of suppression of speech are already included in the case against him. As Klasfeld posted, “ARTICLE VI against Pete Hegseth: Suppressing Free Speech.” He attached a screenshot from the articles of impeachment against Hegseth prepared by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), which read, “In his conduct while Secretary of Defense, Peter Brian Hegseth, in violation of his oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and to well and faithfully discharge the duties of his office, abused the powers entrusted to him by retaliating against a Member of Congress for constitutionally protected speech and attempting to subject a member of a coordinate branch of government to Executive Branch punishment for the exercise of his legislative and oversight responsibilities.”
