Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth unloaded on the ‘fake news’ media in a fiery reality check on the world stage.
During a press conference at the NATO summit, Hegseth ripped into the so-called reports by some outlets claiming last week’s bunker-busting strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities were not as successful as President Donald Trump had indicated.
The president sparred with NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell during the press conference Wednesday before giving Hegseth the podium.
OMG
Sec. of Def Pete Hegseth just OBLITERATED the fake news on the Iran bomb report
“Why is there ‘low confidence’? Because all of the evidence of what was just bombed by twelve 30lb bombs, is BURIED UNDER A MOUNTAIN!..So if you want to make an ‘assessment of what happened at… pic.twitter.com/nGansdHxsg
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 25, 2025
“There’s a reason the president calls out fake news for what it is,” Hegseth said.
“These pilots, these refuelers, these fighters, these air defenders, the skill and the courage it took to go into enemy territory, flying 36 hours on behalf of the American people in the world to take out a nuclear program is beyond what anyone in this audience can fathom,” he continued.
“And then the instinct, the instinct of CNN, the instinct of the New York Times, is to try to find a way to spin it for their own political reasons, to try to hurt President Trump or our country,” the Defense chief added, referring to the reports that the nuclear facilities had not been “obliterated.”
“They don’t care what the troops think. They don’t care what the world thinks. They want to spin it to try to make him look bad based on a leak,” Hegseth said.
“Of course, we’ve all seen plenty of leakers. And what do leakers do? They have agendas. And what do they do? Do they share the whole information or just the part that they want to introduce? When they introduce a preliminary report that’s deemed to be a low assessment, you know what a low assessment means? ‘Low confidence’ in the data in that report. Why is there low confidence? Because all of the evidence of what was just bombed by 12, 30,000-pound bombs is buried under a mountain, devastated and obliterated,” he said.
Hegseth suggested reporters and other doubters should get a “big shovel” and uncover the sites themselves.
“So if you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordow, you’d better get a big shovel and go really deep because Iran’s nuclear program is obliterated. Somebody somewhere is trying to leak something to say, Oh, with low confidence, we think maybe it’s moderate,” he said. “Those who dropped the bombs precisely in the right place know exactly what happened when that exploded.”
“You know who else knows? Iran,” Hegseth concluded. “That’s why they came to the table right away, because their nuclear capabilities have been set back beyond what they thought were possible because of the courage of a commander in chief who led our troops, despite what the fake news wants to say.”
The “masterclass” was applauded on social media.
Masterclass
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 25, 2025
Loved seeing this! Props to Pete for backing our troops with real spine.
— Dr Vincent Sativa 🇺🇸 (@The_Weed_Shop) June 25, 2025
For anyone who believed or hoped @PeteHegseth wasn’t up to the job, he just grew into it right before your eyes
— Pat (@MrIceMan2) June 25, 2025
