Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday used his Pentagon press briefing to attack the media, singling out CNN and saying that the sooner Paramount CEO David Ellison “takes over that network, the better.” (Watch video below.)
Hegseth took issue with a CNN report published Thursday saying that the Trump administration underestimated just how willing Iran would be to close the Strait of Hormuz and the economic impact of the move during their planning for the war as “patently ridiculous.”
“For decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage. CNN doesn’t think we thought of that. It’s a fundamentally unserious report,” Hegseth said. “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt doubled down on Hegseth’s criticism of CNN’s report, calling the article “garbage.”
“The Fake News is working overtime to discredit President Trump, his Administration, and our U.S. Military, all of whom are working 24/7 to eliminate the threat of the Iranian regime,” Leavitt claimed. “It’s a complete disgrace to witness this from the media, and we will keep fighting back against it.”
A CNN spokesperson defended their journalists’ work.
“We stand by our reporting,” they said.
David Ellison, the son of Trump’s billionaire ally Larry Ellison, recently reached an agreement to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, after an intense bidding war.
David Ellison addressed the fears about what Paramount’s takeover would mean for CNN given the changes underway at CBS News following his acquisition of Paramount.
“Editorial independence will actually be maintained,” he told CNBC last week. “It’s maintained at CBS, it’ll be maintained at CNN.”
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Ellison hired Bari Weiss to lead CBS News even though she had zero experience leading a TV newsroom. Since then, Weiss has drawn criticism for a series of her moves there, including her decision to postpone the broadcast of a “60 Minutes” segment about a notorious prison in El Salvador hours before it was set to air.
Ellison’s expected takeover of CNN has also appeared to excite Trump allies on the far right.
“I would happily become a CNN contributor if CNN is controlled by new leadership following a Paramount acquisition of WBD,” Laura Loomer, an anti-Muslim extremist and conspiracy theorist, told The Bulwark.
Hegseth’s attack on the press is only the latest example of the Trump administration seeking to target news organizations and control their coverage.
On Thursday, the White House called out CNN over its coverage of new Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s first public statement since his appointment.
Separately, the White House also voiced frustration with CBS News’ decision to hire Jeremy Adler, a communications executive who previously worked for former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a political enemy of the president.
“The idea CBS would hire Liz Cheney’s flack who has worked to jail President Trump and make it impossible for anybody who supported the president to get hired is insanity,” an unnamed White House official told Axios. “What the hell is Bari Weiss thinking?”
Trump himself also called out the Iran war coverage of The New York Times, another of his frequent targets, in a late-night post on his Truth Social platform.
“We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise, yet, if you read the Failing New York Times, you would incorrectly think that we are not winning,” Trump wrote.