After Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s staff decided that some of the press photos of their boss were “unflattering”, they blocked some of the photographers from further briefings on the Iran war.
Since then, only the Defense Department’s staff photographers have been permitted into the briefings, who have to get approval before sending out any images.
AP and Reuters, which supply a multitude of outlets, were among those banned.
Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski criticized Hegseth’s removal of photographers from the last two press briefings, suggesting:
‘I don’t think photos are his problem. I think his actual qualifications for the job and his grotesque talk about death and destruction and the need to sound strong – it’s total, like, I mean, you can take a bad picture of Pete Hegseth if you want, but it’s what comes out of his mouth that’s the problem.
Because a press briefing about something as serious as the war in Iran, an attractive photo of the Defense Secretary is what’s important.
The Defense Dept denies this report.