Tipsheet

CNN Received Some Bad News From the Pentagon

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  February 24, 2025 4:15 PM

CNN continues to find itself in hot water with the second Trump administration. Late last week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the outlet to be rotated out from the Pentagon, though CNN will still continue to put out such news coverage. After the decision came down, photos of office space in disarray circulated on X, with many mocking CNN even further.

Even Hegseth himself was among those calling out CNN, pointing out that it "should really clean up after themselves..."

An article from The Christian Science Monitor explained how covering the Pentagon works, and how it applies to CNN and other similar outlets, as well as conservative ones:

...The timing of my latest trip back to Washington came just days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office announced that Pentagon press corps members NBC, The New York Times, and NPR must “rotate out” of their longtime office spaces to make room for Breitbart News and One America News Network, outlets that have been vocal in their support of President Donald Trump. (HuffPost, which leans left, was also provided with new office space.)

When the Pentagon Press Association protested Secretary Hegseth’s move, the administration doubled down on the number of outlets “rotating out” of their spaces to include CNN, Politico, and The Washington Post. The deadline for their departure is Friday.

...

In a memo outlining the specifics, the acting assistant to Secretary Hegseth, John Ullyot, strikes a tone, critics say, at the intersection of gracious patronage and veiled threat. He builds the case that Pentagon space – on loan from the defense secretary, he emphasizes – is a privilege the press enjoys at the pleasure of Mr. Hegseth. The words “loan” and “enjoy” are used several times in the succinct memo.

The outlets vacating offices they have occupied, in some cases for decades, will still be able to cover briefings and be considered for travel, Mr. Ullyot writes. This, he says, “stands as a tribute to the importance the Department has long placed on informing the public about the U.S. military and all it does to project peace through strength. It also honors the many correspondents who put their lives on the line, and in many cases died, while covering our finest in battle.”

Also on Thursday, Hegseth put out a video speaking about "transparency" for the sake of American taxpayers, which involves "doubling down on those priorities" for President Donald Trump in his second term. He also stressed he cares most about doing best for "the warfighters."

Early on in his remarks, Hegseth warned Americans about the media. "Now, the legacy media has, of course, a different agenda. You see the same clickbait headlines that I do. Time after time, the media distorts good news stories, or often just gets them flat wrong. In many cases, in most cases, they have an agenda. Other times they are just lazy, as they often are, and they don't take time to actually understand the facts," the secretary shared. He also offered a warning, adding, "I encourage you to take that media, those negative reports, about those important decisions that we're making at the department with a gigantic grain of salt, please." 

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Hegseth went on to add that "when we make decisions that are misreported in the media, we're going to try to get to you as quickly as possible," which he said is so that Americans can "understand the real thought process behind them and then how they relate to our core mission of fighting and winning wars, hopefully deterring them, but fighting and winning wars, and then how we spend your taxpayer dollars wisely to accomplish that mission."

The secretary then went on to list a specific example of where the media has been in "hyperventilation" when it comes to how the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will be involved in making the Department of Defense (DOD) better, which Hegseth reminded has "the largest discretionary budget in the federal government." 

Another example includes how Hegseth stressed they are "refocusing" their budget away from the Biden-Harris administration, which he warned "the media wants to call these exclusively cuts," adding, "but it's the opposite, of course, as always is the case."

Hegseth described the last example as "our reevaluation of our probationary workforce," which the secretary reminded came about as the result of an executive order from Trump. He also reminded that it's being done "across the government." Hegseth emphasized how this example benefits taxpayers when it comes to finding redundancy. He also spoke to promoting people based on merit and a hiring freeze which will also involve a review. 

Towards the end of his remarks, Hegseth again reminded that "we want to communicate with you directly, rather than through the filter of media outlets."

Sure enough, CNN has indeed continued to cover the Pentagon. Kaitlan Collins took to posting over X about a "purge" at the Pentagon. 

Hegseth announced firings and said he was "requesting nominations" for their replacements. 

Trump also announced last Friday that he was firing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. "CQ" Brown Jr., who had been nominated by President Joe Biden and, no surprise, was a staunch advocate of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) that seemed to infect all of the Biden-Harris administration. Trump has nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine as his replacement. It was a move that Collins also posted about. 

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