President Donald Trump said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will defend B-2 bomber pilots’ “dignity” in a press conference Thursday morning after a leak suggested the pilots’ attack on Iranian nuclear sites only set the country’s nuclear program back by months.
Trump and his administration have repeatedly slammed any attempts to call the bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities anything less than a complete success, with the president claiming Thursday that the reported intelligence leaks had distressed the pilots who carried out the strikes.
Recommended Stories
- Gabbard says new intelligence 'confirms' Iranian nuclear facilities destroyed
- Ted Cruz downplays 'highly dubious' leak surrounding strikes on Iran
- Pete Hegseth announces intelligence leak investigation as Pentagon hit with more controversy
“Secretary of Defense (War!) Pete Hegseth, together with Military Representatives, will be holding a Major News Conference tomorrow morning at 8 A.M. EST at The Pentagon, in order to fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday afternoon.
“These Patriots were very upset! After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the Success was LEGENDARY, and then, two days later, they started reading Fake News by CNN and The Failing New York Times. They felt terribly! Fortunately for them and, as usual, solely for the purpose of demeaning PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, the Fake News (Times and CNN) lied and totally misrepresented the Facts, none of which they had (because it was too soon, there were no Facts out there yet!). The News Conference will prove both interesting and irrefutable,” he concluded.
Hegseth said at the NATO summit Wednesday that there would be an investigation into the intelligence leak, which the administration has disputed. “Of course, we are doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now,” Hegseth said on Wednesday at the summit. “CNN and others are trying to spin it to make the president look bad when this was an overwhelming success.”
A Defense Intelligence Agency official told the Washington Examiner that the agency is “working with the FBI and other authorities to investigate the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.”
“This is a preliminary, low-confidence assessment, not a final conclusion, and will continue to be refined as additional intelligence becomes available,” the official continued. “We have still not been able to review the actual physical sites themselves, which will give us the best indication.”
The defense secretary previously said the strikes “obliterated” the Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan facilities. The bombers were only involved in dropping “bunker-buster” bombs on the Natanz and Fordow nuclear facilities, while a nuclear submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against targets at the Isfahan facility.
PETE HEGSETH ANNOUNCES INTELLIGENCE LEAK INVESTIGATION AS PENTAGON HIT WITH MORE CONTROVERSY
Trump criticized CNN journalist Natasha Bertrand for reporting on the nuclear facility intelligence earlier on Wednesday. “Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News,” he wrote on Truth Social. “She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out “like a dog.” She lied on the Laptop from Hell Story, and now she lied on the Nuclear Sites Story, attempting to destroy our Patriot Pilots by making them look bad when, in fact, they did a GREAT job and hit “pay dirt” — TOTAL OBLITERATION!”
Trump negotiated a ceasefire earlier this week between Israel and Iran following the U.S. strikes. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize after the agreement, which came several days after the president complained he wouldn’t receive the award.