Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wife was a driving force behind the effort to bar reporters from the Pentagon, according to a new report. Jennifer Hegseth, who previously served as her husband’s producer at Fox News, has emerged as his “most influential adviser,” The New York Times reported. She has helped ready him for appearances, conducted interviews with prospective staffers and attended high-level meetings.
Democrats and former defense officials have described her degree of access and influence as highly unusual. Among the clearest examples: she reportedly encouraged her husband’s combative posture toward the press, working with him to keep reporters out of the Pentagon, a Trump administration official told the Times. Despite having once worked as a journalist herself, “Mrs.
Hegseth was eager to revoke the credentials of Pentagon reporters who she felt had written negative stories about her husband,” the outlet reported, citing two unnamed sources. Last year, the Pentagon required credentialed journalists to agree to new terms to retain access. Many major news organizations refused, arguing that the policy would restrict reporters’ ability to gather information; their correspondents voluntarily surrendered their press credentials.
After a court order struck down key provisions of those terms, the Pentagon introduced revised restrictions requiring reporters to be escorted by Defense Department officials while inside the building, according to . The Pentagon also closed the “Correspondents' Corridor,” a longstanding gathering place for reporters. Officials said in March that they were planning a new workspace outside the Pentagon.
These policies have been sharply criticized by press advocates. Jennifer Hegseth’s outsize influence at the Pentagon has also been demonstrated in several other instances, The New York Times reported. Early in her husband’s tenure, she participated in interviews with prospective staffers.
John Ullyot, a former Pentagon spokesperson, said Jennifer Hegseth conducted a one-on-one interview that was “unexpectedly detailed” and filled with “hard-edged questions.” “John Ullyot, who was exiled from the MAGA movement by Donald Trump Jr., is acting like a crazy ex, and quite frankly it’s embarrassing. John was terrible at his job and now lashes out at the Secretary any chance he gets,” Acting Pentagon Press Secretary Joel Valdez said in a statement provided to The Independent. Jennifer Hegseth was also included in a now-infamous Signal group chat last year in which her husband shared plans for a U.S. attack on Yemen.
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