Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made some waves during a press briefing centered on Operation Epic Fury, the ongoing military operation in Iran, when he opened the floor to reporters from the entertainment outlet TMZ. The Pentagon has been continuously reshaping its press corps. Thus, per The Hill, most questions at these briefings now come from right-wing media outlets, while legacy and mainstream news organizations are frequently sidelined.
Hegseth kicked things off by highlighting the pace of Operation Epic Fury, contrasting it with past U.S. military involvements in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. According to him, those wars “took years, decades, vague missions, shifting sands,” he said. “Little to show for it. Operation Epic Fury has been laser-focused from the very start.” After he took some questions from the press, he called on TMZ correspondents Jacob Wasserman and Charlie Cotton.
