MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This week, the Pentagon unveiled its new press corps - mostly right-wing outlets handpicked by the Trump administration to cover the Trump administration. You may recall that back in October, established media organizations, including NPR, walked out after refusing to comply with new rules. For an update on who is asking questions at the Pentagon now, I want to bring in Steve Walsh, who covers the military for WHRO in Norfolk. Hey there, Steve.
STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Let's go back for a sec to the origins of all this. It was a pledge. And the Pentagon wanted all Pentagon reporters to sign it.
WALSH: Right, right. So the vast majority of outlets - from Fox News to New York Times, to NPR - refused to sign a pledge that basically said they would not report on anything that was not officially authorized by the Department of Defense, which this administration now calls the Department of War. Shortly after that happened, the Pentagon announced a new group of mainly right-wing outlets, which they say replaces the traditional press corps.
These include bloggers and talk show hosts, many of whom have never covered the Defense Department. And many of them were actually asked by the Pentagon to become members of this new press corps. The group that showed up this week included former Congressman Matt Gaetz, who had briefly been President Trump's nominee for attorney general. He now has a show on the One America News Network. And Laura Loomer, who is a conservative activist with deep ties to the White House.
KELLY: Now, the Pentagon has not held very many on-camera briefings with reporters, not since Trump took office again back in January. This week, that changed. Tell me more.
WALSH: Yeah, so starting Monday, they have been getting an orientation. Many of these people don't live in Washington. The media area has been largely vacant since the walkout in October. They posted videos on social media from the Pentagon briefing room, which had been off limits to the press corps for months. Yesterday, deputy press secretary Kingsley Wilson gave her first on-camera briefing since coming on board in January. Wilson herself has been accused of previously making antisemitic posts before she was brought into the Pentagon. She spent a fair amount of time railing against the mainstream media.
Now, the questions were a mixed bag. One outlet did ask when the Pentagon would produce the intelligence to justify the lethal strikes against the boats in the Caribbean. Others adopted the taunt seditious six that Secretary Hegseth uses to describe the group of Democratic lawmakers who urged troops not to follow unlawful orders. I spoke with the last deputy Pentagon press secretary under the Biden administration, Sabrina Singh. She worries that this new group is part of a larger politization of the military.
SABRINA SINGH: I'm concerned that there is so much damage being done by Pete Hegseth. There will one day be another Secretary of Defense. Whoever that person is, is going to have to contend with the fact that we have so deeply politicized service members. And I don't know how you undo that damage.
KELLY: Well, and just practically speaking, Steve, how is all this changing how you, how other Defense reporters are doing their jobs?
WALSH: Well, I mean, as we know, the lack of access has not stopped the flow of stories coming out of the Pentagon. People are still talking, people are still working their sources and they're still doing their job. You know, several outlets did ask for access to the press conference, but they were denied, so it doesn't look like people are going to be getting in the building on a regular basis. We're told the new group met today with Secretary Hegseth, who has only given two on-camera briefings himself at the Pentagon.
KELLY: And who is very much in the hot seat for all kinds of things right now.
WALSH: Indeed.
KELLY: WHRO's Steve Walsh. Thanks very much for your reporting.
WALSH: Thank you.
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