‘Just Not True’: CNN’s Jake Tapper Blasts Hegseth’s Claim Media Reports Military Deaths Just to Make Trump ‘Look Bad’

Screenshot via Instagram.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper responded to criticism from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth of the media coverage of the deaths of six U.S. service members, arguing that there was “nothing political” about reporting service members’ deaths and calling Hegseth’s assertions “just false.”

On Sunday, six members of the military were killed by an Iranian strike on a facility where they were stationed in Kuwait, retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli strikes that have killed the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and hit other locations within Iran. The Pentagon has released the names of four of them, all in the Army Reserve: Capt. Cody A. Khork, and Sgts. Nicole M. Amor, Declan J. Coady, and Noah L. Tietjens.

The four service members were stationed at what Hegseth called a “tactical operation center that was fortified.” CNN’s report described it as a “triple-wide trailer with office space inside” and cited a source to report that “[t]he attack came quickly and with no warning or sirens to alert troops to evacuate or get into a bunker.”

“The building had concrete barriers surrounding it, the source said — typical for military structures overseas to protect against things like car bombs — but nothing that could shield it from drones or missiles,” CNN reported.

At a press conference Wednesday morning, Hegseth lashed out at media critics, accusing them of making the service members’ deaths “front page news” in order to make President Donald Trump “look bad.”

“When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news,” said Hegseth. “I get it, the press only wants to make the president look bad, but try for once to report the reality.”

Tapper responded to Hegseth’s comments in a video he posted on his social media accounts, and that was shared by the official CNN accounts and posted on the cable news network’s website.

 

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“There’s nothing political about covering fallen service members,” the caption read as the video began.

“That’s just false,” said Tapper about Hegseth’s claims, calling them a “warped way of looking at the world” and “rather ahistorical.”

“The news media covers fallen service members because they have made the greatest sacrifice for this county,” he continued. “It’s a tribute. It’s an honor.”

Tapper noted that the media had covered other fallen service members under former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, cuing up clips of his reporting from years ago.

Veterans “wanted someone to tell their story,” said Tapper, and “to have their fallen brothers and sisters so memorialized, so honored,” sharing how he had interviewed many of them for his 2012 book, The Outpost.

“All that under Biden and Obama,” said Tapper. “There is nothing political about it. There’s no score settling about it. There’s no attempt to make anybody look bad. It’s about honoring fallen service members.”

“The difference with Obama and Biden is that their Defense Secretaries didn’t come out and start petulantly complaining about honoring the fallen,” he concluded.

Watch the video above via Jake Tapper on Instagram.

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