PERKS OF BEING A MOUTHPIECE

Pentagon Pete Invites Cherry-Picked Press Lackeys to Fancy Tour

The DOD will reward its loyal press corps with what amounts to a backstage pass.

The Department of Defense is set to welcome its new gaggle of press loyalists with a meet-and-greet and access to senior DOD personnel.

The new MAGA press corps will pick up their press badges and interact with senior Pentagon officials at a three-day fair running Dec. 1-3. They will also be part of a rare Pete Hegseth press scrum. One attendee, Laura Loomer, said the festivities are dubbed “New Media Week.”

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Pentagon Pete Unveils MAGA Press Corps After Real One Left

Sarah Ewall-Wice

In October, nearly all media outlets refused to sign Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s restrictive press policy that forbade journalists from publishing information not cleared for release by the Pentagon. Outlets that agreed to the policy now make up the Pentagon press corps.

That group includes far-right media outlet Gateway Pundit and conservative activist group Turning Point USA. It also includes right-wing influencers like podcaster Tim Pool—who was busted in 2024 for being unwittingly paid by Russian state media—and informal Trump adviser Laura Loomer.

Loomer, 32, confirmed she would be attending the event on X Saturday morning, writing, “Very excited for New Media week at the Pentagon this week. I am really looking forward to being a member of the Pentagon Press Corp. I have so many questions and reports I’ve been waiting to break and follow up on!”

Turning Point USA, the Daily Signal, and Tim Pool’s Timcast have also been invited, according to the Washington Post.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.

In February, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a 45-year-old former Fox News host, promised the DOD would be a part of the “most transparent administration ever.”

He last held an on-camera press briefing on June 26. His media appearances have otherwise been limited to friendly puff pieces that paint him in a flattering light.

Upon announcing the DOD’s secondary “Department of War” title, he sat for a Fox News piece with Rachel Campos-Duffy, wife of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, to insist the “Department of War” stands for “peace.”

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In September, he introduced a highly restrictive press policy that made even traditionally conservative outlets like Fox News—Hegseth’s former employer—balk. In October, dozens of Pentagon journalists who had covered the Department of Defense for decades walked out of the Pentagon in protest of the new rules.

Hegseth claimed the policy was a common-sense measure to protect military secrets, but critics suspect it was implemented to stop leaks that were damaging his reputation and job security.

Before the policy’s implementation, the DOD suffered a series of embarrassing leaks, including an August leak of a memo written by Hegseth’s younger brother, Phil, about increasing the presence of U.S. military on American streets and a June leak of Pentagon assessments of U.S. military bombings in Iran.

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Adam DownerBreaking News Reporter

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