Tensions boiled over at the Pentagon on Thursday when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confronted former Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin over what he called her biased and misleading coverage of President Donald J. Trump’s historic military strike on Iran’s nuclear program.

The fiery exchange came during a press conference detailing the results of Saturday’s U.S. air and naval assault on three Iranian nuclear sites — a mission that included B-2 stealth bombers targeting Fordow, Iran’s most fortified underground facility, and submarine-launched cruise missiles hitting additional nuclear infrastructure.

While the Trump administration has emphasized the mission’s success in crippling Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, left-wing media outlets and Trump critics have latched onto selective leaks and vague satellite images to sow doubt about the operation’s impact.

Griffin, now a frequent voice of skepticism, pressed Hegseth at the briefing with a question suggesting that Iran may have evacuated its enriched uranium ahead of the strike.

“Do you have certainty that all the highly enriched uranium was inside the Fordow mountain or some of it, because there were satellite photos that showed more than a dozen trucks there two days in advance? Are you certain none of that highly enriched uranium was moved?” she asked.

Hegseth didn’t hesitate to call out what many see as a coordinated media effort to undercut Trump’s military leadership.

“Of course we’re watching,” Hegseth initially responded — but then turned the heat up:
“Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally.”

Griffin, clearly taken aback, defended her reporting credentials.

“I was the first to report about the ventilation shafts on Saturday night, and in fact, I was the first to describe the B-2 bombers, the refueling, the entire mission, with great accuracy,” she said.
“So I take issue with that.”

But Hegseth stayed focused on the broader issue — the Left’s unrelenting effort to discredit anything President Trump does, no matter how effective or historic.

“There’s nothing that I’ve seen that suggests that we didn’t hit exactly what we wanted to hit in those locations,” Hegseth affirmed, per the Daily Mail.

Earlier in the press conference, Hegseth called out what he described as deliberate misinformation campaigns, warning reporters not to base their conclusions on politically motivated leaks.

“A preliminary assessment minimizing the damage of the attack was leaked because someone had an agenda to try and muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn’t successful,” he said, according to Deadline.

He didn’t mince words when it came to the motivation behind the negative spin:

“You cheer against Trump so hard, in your DNA and in your blood, cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes.”

Hegseth urged reporters and the public to focus on what really matters: American strength and the warriors who executed a precision mission with courage and excellence.

“How about we take a beat, recognize first the success of our warriors, hold them up, tell their stories, celebrate that, wave an American flag, be proud of what we accomplished,” he concluded.