After Pentagon reporters chose to turn in their credentials instead of complying with new rules that would censor their reporting, the White House claimed Thursday—without evidence—that some journalists were “bullied” into it.
On Wednesday, multiple reporters turned in their access badges and walked out of the Pentagon in protest of new rules laid out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that would require his rubber stamp before reporting on information that he has not yet approved for release.
The First Amendment specifically details freedom of the press to report on affairs without government restriction.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
That night, in response to a photo of the reporters who left, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote on X, “SOURCE: a few reporters on this wall have privately said they were bullied into participating in the walkout when they actually wanted to stay. They were physically confronted and threatened with retaliation if they didn’t join the protest.”
Cheung is a senior member of the Trump administration, where lying and deception are part of day-to-day business. Cheung did not cite any independent source regarding the purported bullying.
Pressuring the media to hide damaging information about Trump and his decisions has long been a part of the administration’s playbook, as is the policy of censoring reporters and even comedians.
Even Trump’s allies and cheerleaders at Fox News have gone on the record in opposition to Hegseth’s censorship ploy. The network signed on to a joint statement protesting Hegseth, along with outlets like CNN, NBC, ABC, and CBS.
“The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press,” the statement said.
The attempt to control Pentagon reporters is part of the continued fallout from Hegseth leaking intelligence about military strikes in an unsecure Signal chat with a reporter.
Ironically, Hegseth is trying to shut up reporters when he has released more government secrets in a few months than most of them have in their entire careers.
