Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and former Fox News colleague Jennifer Griffin clashed Thursday at a news conference to discuss the extent of damage done to Iran’s nuclear program.
On Saturday, B-2 bombers attacked two Iranian nuclear sites, including the one at Fordow, which is buried deep in a mountain to avoid being damaged from the air. A third site was attacked by cruise missiles launched from a submarine.
Since then, the Trump administration has highlighted the destruction wrought on Iran’s nuclear program while critics have seized on multiple initial reports to question that assessment.
“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?” Griffin asked Hegseth during a news coference as shown in a video clip posted to X.
“Of course we’re watching,” Hegseth responded. Then the conversation moved in a different direction.
FOX NEWS’S JENNIFER GRIFFIN: Are you certain none of that highly enriched uranium was moved?
HEGSETH: Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally.
GRIFFIN: I take issue with that pic.twitter.com/YNi30aMnrb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 26, 2025
“Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst. The one who misrepresents the most intentionally,” he said.
Griffin had a response ready.
Do you watch Fox News?
“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,” she countered.
Griffin also asked Hegseth to say whether he was certain Iran’s highly enriched uranium was destroyed in the attack, according to the Daily Mail.
“There’s nothing that I’ve seen that suggests that what we didn’t hit exactly what we wanted to hit in those locations,” Hegseth replied.
As noted by Deadline, earlier in the briefing, Hegseth said 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.”
“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 said.
Nothing like watching our Secretary of Defense spank the fake news media first thing in the morning 🇺🇸🔥
Hegseth has found his groove and I’m all for it! pic.twitter.com/ULZIDivwpc
— TheStormHasArrived (@TheStormRedux) June 26, 2025
Hegseth noted that defense officials are “urging caution about premising entire stories on biased leaks to biased publications to make something look bad.”
“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 said.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
