War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday destroyed an NBC reporter and took a jab at Biden during a Pentagon press briefing with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force General Dan Caine on Monday.
NBC’s Courtney Kube shouted at Hegseth as he called on another reporter, “President Trump put a four-week timeline on it. Are you saying that’s wrong?” He initially ignored the reporter, but later returned to her question.
“I heard that question about four weeks. It’s the typical NBC sort of gotcha type question,” he said.
Trump has told numerous outlets that the operation could last four or five weeks, but has also said he could end it in a few days. On the first day of the operation, Trump told Axios on Saturday he could “go long and take over the whole thing or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: ‘See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs].”
“President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take, four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up. It could move back. We’re going to execute at his command the objectives we’ve set out to achieve. And what he has shown an ability to do that other presidents can’t quite seem to have the aperture to do,” Hegseth added before slamming Joe Biden. “Well, I mean, Joe Biden didn’t even know what he was doing.”
The reporter fired back, “That was a direct quote from the President to the Daily Mail.” Hegseth responded, “I’ve been in meetings with the president for the last two and a half days. We know exactly where his headspace is, and he will communicate as he should, exactly what he would like, and we will follow those orders.”
WATCH:
Kube: President Trump put a four week timeline on it. Are you saying that’s wrong?
Hegseth: I heard that question about four weeks. It’s the typical NBC sort of gotcha type question. President Trump has all the latitude in the world to talk about how long it may or may not take, four weeks, two weeks, six weeks. It could move up. It could move back. We’re going to execute at his command the objectives we’ve set out to achieve. And what he has shown an ability to do that other presidents can’t quite seem to have the aperture to do— well, I mean, Joe Biden didn’t even know what he was doing— is to look for opportunities and off ramps and escalations for the United States that creates new opportunities to execute what we need on our own timeline. So, you can play games about four weeks, five weeks. He has all the latitude, and I’m glad he does, because there’s no better communicator than our president. Expressing those things—
Kube: That was a direct quote from the President to the Daily Mail.
Hegseth: I’ve been in meetings with the president for the last two and a half days. We know exactly where his headspace is, and he will communicate as he should, exactly what he would like, and we will follow those orders. And I think everything he said on that is right down the middle.
Trump on Monday also gave an update on the operations during a speech at the White House.
He noted that the US is “substantially ahead of our time projections,” stating that it was initially “four weeks to terminate the military leadership,” which he said was “done in about an hour.”
“We’re ahead of schedule there by a lot,” he said, still threatening to “go far longer than that.”
Jordan Conradson, formerly TGP’s Arizona correspondent, is currently on assignment in Washington DC. Jordan has played a critical role in exposing fraud and corruption in Arizona’s elections and elected officials. His reporting on election crimes in Maricopa County led to the resignation of one election official, and he was later banned from the Maricopa County press room for his courage in pursuit of the truth. TGP and Jordan finally gained access after suing Maricopa County, America’s fourth largest county, and winning at the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Conradson looks forward to bringing his aggressive style of journalism to the Swamp.
You can email Jordan Conradson here, and read more of Jordan Conradson’s articles here.
