Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tried to exclude a CNN reporter from his forthcoming overseas visit following her critical tweets about him, according to Status News.
Haley Britzky, a national security reporter for CNN, was initially selected as the designated TV representative on Hegseth’s trip on May 30 to Singapore, where he plans to address a defense summit.
Nevertheless, her position was nearly revoked after Pentagon officials were outraged by her social media posts criticizing Hegseth for his restrictive stance on press freedom, as noted by Status.
The majority of Britzky’s feed on X has been focused on the May 23 decision by the Defense Department to no longer allow credentialed reporters to freely walk through the Pentagon’s unclassified hallways.
To get through much of the building, reporters now need to be escorted by authorized Pentagon staff.
In a memo, Hegseth explained that this move was ‘needed to reduce the opportunities for in-person inadvertent and unauthorized disclosures.’
Britzky reposted many journalists who openly slammed the new policy as an attempt to stop them from doing their jobs.
Oliver Darcy, the former CNN reporter who runs Status News, said he recently learned that Britzky’s tweets ‘irked’ certain Pentagon officials who later tried to get her kicked off the trip.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is now being criticized for allegedly wanting to kick a CNN reporter off his upcoming trip to Singapore because of her tweets
Haley Britzky, one of CNN’s national security reporters, reposted other journalists criticizing Hegseth for restricting credentialed reporters’ access to unclassified hallways in the Pentagon
Britzky was tapped as the designated TV pool reporter as space on the trip was limited, meaning she would shared her work with the wider press.
Following a ‘brief standoff’, per Status, she was allowed back on the junket.
Her critical posts also included re-sharing one from a journalist who said the memo is ironic in light of Signalgate, in reference to the scandal where Hegseth accidentally shared details of a military strike with a journalist on the group messaging app Signal.
In one of her posts, Britzky took an excerpt from the Pentagon Press Association’s blistering rebuke of Hegseth.
She focused on the part where the association said it would be glad to discuss maintaining operations security [OPSEC] with the Pentagon. The association claimed no such conversation has been offered by Hegseth or his team.
‘Today’s memo by Secretary Hegseth appears to be a direct attack on the freedom of the press and America’s right to know what its military is doing,’ the association said in an open letter.
‘The Pentagon Press Corps has had access to non-secured, unclassified spaces in the Pentagon for decades, under Republican and Democratic administrations, including in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, without any concern about OP-SEC from DoD leadership.
‘This decision eliminates the media’s freedom to freely access press officers for the military services who are specifically hired to respond to press queries.’
Pictured: Haley Britzky’s tweets over the last week that allegedly endangered her spot on the Singapore trip
According to Status News, Britzky merely expressing support for these messages was enough for Pentagon officials to consider axing her from the Asia trip.
This then prompted other reporters who were also traveling with Hegseth to threaten not going, depriving him of media coverage, Status News reported.
That threat is reportedly what got the Pentagon to relent and allow Britzky on the trip after all.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson did not comment on Britzky’s posts, but did confirm she is traveling with Hegseth.
‘Our team works closely with the Pentagon press to provide media access during Secretary Hegseth’s official travel to promote transparency and trust. CNN, including Haley Britzky, are traveling with Secretary Hegseth in Singapore,’ Wilson said in a statement to DailyMail.com.
DailyMail.com also approached CNN and Britzky for comment.
Hegseth’s desire to restrict press access to the Pentagon comes more than two months after he shared the details of a US military strike on Signal, an unsecured group messaging app.
Unbeknownst to Hegseth, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief of The Atlantic, had been inadvertently added to the chat and could see top national security officials openly discussing upcoming airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthis.
After the strikes went ahead on March 15 as planned, Goldberg penned a bombshell article on March 24 claiming he knew two hours before.
On March 26, he published a follow up piece that included all the screenshots of the chat, whose participants included former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance and Hegseth.
Britzky will be going on the trip as planned following a ‘brief standoff’ with Pentagon officials
On April 20, it emerged that Hegseth shared military attack details in a second Signal group chat with his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
And on April 30, it was reported that Hegseth had a third chat discussing sensitive foreign policy matters that included his wife, Pentagon Chief Spokesman Sean Parnell and fellow former Fox producer Tami Radabaugh.
Hegseth faced calls to resign, but those demands have gradually waned over time.
President Donald Trump has also stood by embattled defense secretary, telling reporters shortly after Easter that ‘Pete’s doing a great job.’
