Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was left backtracking and gesturing wildly after being slapped down for attacking a reporter and later being called out for sexism to his face.
The Pentagon chief was participating in a press conference on Thursday morning amid fallout over the leaked intelligence assessment of the U.S. strikes on Iran when he got in a pair of blistering exchanges.
“Why not acknowledge the female pilots that also participated in this mission? The early messages that you sent out only congratulated the boys,” said one reporter.
Hegseth started to laugh behind the podium before bashing the media, which was a theme of the event.
“So when I say something like our boys in bombers, see this is the kind of thing the press does, right?” Hegseth said.
“Of course, the chairman mentioned a female bomber pilot, that’s fantastic. She’s fantastic, she’s a hero. I want more female bomber pilots. I hope the men and women of our country sign up to do such brave and audacious things,” he continued, waving his arms and speaking quickly.
“When you spin it as because I say ‘our boys in bombers’ as a common phrase, I’ll keep saying things like that whether they’re men or women, very proud of that female pilot, just like I’m very proud of those male pilots and I don’t care if it’s a male or a female in that cockpit and the American people don’t care,” Hegseth said.
“But it’s the obsession with race and gender in this department that’s changed priorities. We don’t do that anymore, we don’t play your little games,” he continued.
The question came after Hegseth referred to the pilots as “our boys in those bombers” during his press conference on Sunday. The Defense Department also posted “Welcome home boys!”
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine confirmed during the briefing on Thursday that there were male and female aviators on the mission.
Operation Midnight Hammer involved B-2 bombers carrying out a roughly 36-hour round trip on Saturday to strike the Iran facilities in a carefully orchestrated operation that involved multiple midair refuelings and entering Iran without detection.
Slamming the media for asking him about using “boys” was one of several times throughout the press conference where Hegseth went off on reporters who covered the strikes and aftermath.
The Defense Secretary also went after his former Fox News colleague Jennifer Griffin by name on Thursday after she asked if the administration was certain none of the highly enriched uranium in Iran was moved.
“Of course, we’re watching every aspect, but Jennifer you’ve been about the worst, the one who misrepresents the most intentionally,” Hegseth fired back.
Griffin pushed back that his comment was not fair and noted she was the first to accurately report news on multiple aspects of the strike on Saturday night.
“In fact, I was the first to describe the B-2 bombers, the refueling, the entire mission with great accuracy, so I take issue with that. You have issues,” Griffin said.
Hegseth appeared to back down slightly after she called him out.
He said he appreciated her reporting on the “most successful mission based on operational security that this department has done since you’ve been here.”
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