Hegseth slams media at Pentagon briefing on Iran: 'You cheer against Trump so hard'

WASHINGTON - Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth accused reporters at a Pentagon press briefing Thursday of rooting for the failure of President Donald Trump.

"You, the press, specifically you, the press corps, because you cheer against Trump so hard," he said. "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. You have to hope maybe they weren't effective."

What they're saying:

Hegseth scolded the media for "breathlessly" focusing on a leaked preliminary report from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) that suggested U.S. strikes against Iran likely put the country back mere months.

The DIA is a part of the Defense Department, which Hegseth leads. He claimed the DIA assessment was preliminary and had not been coordinated with other agencies in the intelligence community.

Hegseth said they decided to hold the conference Thursday morning because "there was a great deal of irresponsible reporting" based on a preliminary intelligence assessment. He criticized "biased leaks to biased publications."

"If you want to know what’s going on at Fordo, you better go there and get a big shovel," he said.

Hegseth accused the media of being "fake news," "hunting for scandals all the time" and failing to acknowledge "historic moments." 

Big picture view:

The Pentagon briefing included a detailed narrative about military tactics and hardware. However, it was short on information about how much the attack setback the Iranian nuclear program.

It’s unclear how quickly Iran could repair the damage or rebuild its capabilities elsewhere. There have also been questions about whether Iran was able to move its enriched uranium before the U.S. strikes.

Hegseth said he didn’t think that happened.

"I’m not aware of any intelligence that I’ve reviewed that says things were not where they were supposed to be — moved or otherwise," he said.