Newsmax reporter to Hegseth: 'When did the president decide to capitulate?' |
Newsmax reporter to Hegseth: ‘When did the president decide to capitulate?’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth appeared annoyed Tuesday after a reporter asked him when President Trump decided to capitulate on his initial demands for Iran to surrender unconditionally.
In a tense exchange at a Pentagon press briefing, Newsmax’s James Rosen pointed to Trump’s changing justification for the war with Tehran which began on Feb. 28, initially offering his “gratitude and admiration” to Hegseth and U.S. forces before questioning the president’s shifting rhetoric.
“I want to first express my gratitude and admiration for the work you do and for everyone involved in our armed forces and also for the accomplishments of Operation Epic Fury, which I think are too often dismissed too lightly,” Rosen said to Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine.
“But those accomplishments don’t obscure, I think, a central default that has occurred here, and I would like you both to address it,” he added. “On the first day of this conflict, President Trump addressed the Iranian people directly and said, ‘when........