Jeffrey Goldberg on Pete Hegseth Ripping Jennifer Griffin: “Why Are They Like This?”
“Washington Week” moderator Jeffrey Goldberg talks with Shane Harris and Ashley Parker of The Atlantic, David Ignatius of The Washington Post, and Andrea Mitchell of NBC News.
JEFFREY GOLDBERG, THE ATLANTIC, ‘WASHINGTON WEEK’ HOST: Right. I want to talk a little bit about the way in which this administration deals with crises and talks about crises. Let’s watch Pete Hegseth get into an argument with one of the best Pentagon reporters we have in the press court, Jen Griffin from Fox, over what I interpret as a straightforward question. JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS: Do you have certainty that all the highly enriched uranium was inside the Fordow Mountain, or some of it? Because there were satellite photos that showed more than a dozen trucks there two days in advance. Are you certain none of that highly enriched uranium was moved? SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH: Of course, we’re watching every single aspect. But, Jennifer, you’ve been about the worst, the one who misrepresents the most intentionally. What the president says — HEGSETH: I was — Pete Hegseth: I’m familiar. GRIFFIN: (INAUDIBLE) of the ventilation chefs on Saturday night, and, in fact, I was the first to describe the B-2 bombers, the refueling, the entire mission with great accuracy. So, I take issue with that. GOLDBERG: Ashley, why are they like this? Why can’t he just answer the question, open question, normal question, where’s the highly enriched uranium? ASHLEY PARKER, THE ATLANTIC: Well, first, I was struck by, it goes back to the way Trump is insisting on this be described, which is your original question of how are they talking about crises. And with Trump, everything is always superlative, right? It couldn’t just be, we set Iran’s nuclear program back significantly, and we’re still waiting to understand the nuances, as David articulated, it’s that it was totally obliterated. So, he sets a superlative line where anything short of that is disloyalty, right? So, the facts are now immaterial to sort of this semantic debate. And then for Pete Hegseth, which, again, it’s just worth stating that that is a wild response to a very basic question. He is performing to save his job. He’s had a lot of missteps. In many ways, he’s been cosplaying the role of defense secretary. Trump likes him. He likes him from FOX News. He likes that he’s tough. But that is something where Hegseth, like a lot of people in this administration are so clearly performing for an audience.
