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  "path": "/post/212574/judge-cites-hegseth-blocks-pentagon-media-limits",
  "publishedAt": "2026-06-30T20:50:35.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Republicans",
    "Republican Party",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Pentagon",
    "Pete Hegseth",
    "Media",
    "First Amendment",
    "United States",
    "Politics",
    "justice",
    "injunction",
    "blocked",
    "The New York Times",
    "quoted",
    "accused",
    "garbage",
    "sued",
    "granted"
  ],
  "textContent": "Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s complaints about media coverage came back to bite him Tuesday.\n\nA federal judge ordered a preliminary injunction against the Department of Defense’s restrictions on press access to the Pentagon, based in part on “a consistent stream of derisive comments beginning shortly after the confirmation of Secretary Hegseth and continuing through the present.”\n\nU.S. District Judge Paul Friedman temporarily blocked a rule stating that all journalists visiting the Pentagon were required to have an official escort while a lawsuit _The New York Times___ filed against the rule is reviewed in full by the court.\n\n“This court has spoken at several points about the critical importance of protecting the freedoms enshrined in the First Amendment, and that evergreen message bears repeating,” Friedman wrote.\n\nHegseth has criticized media outlets whose coverage has not reflected well on himself or the department. The judge quoted Hegseth’s March attack on the _Times_ , where he accused the paper of “slashing and burning people to ruin their reputations.”\n\nFriedman quoted Hegseth’s complaints about the “legacy Trump-hating press” peddling “endless stream of garbage,” as well as the time he compared reporters to the biblical “Pharisees” who “held counsel against [Jesus]” and “scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation, only looking for the negative.”\n\nThe judge also made sure to include several quotes from Sean Parnell, the assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs, including when he called the _Times_ “garbage.”\n\nIn October, the Department of Defense said that it would revoke the press passes of journalists who shared classified or unclassified information without the Pentagon’s preapproval. The _Times_ sued, and Friedman ruled in the newspaper’s favor in March, after which the DOD issued a revised policy with the escort rule. In May, the _Times_ sued again over the new rule, which prevented journalists from free movement around the building in authorized spaces without an escort.\n\nThe DOD has argued that reporters have gained sensitive information based on roaming around Pentagon headquarters, alleging that they “maintain a persistent physical presence near sensitive spaces within the Pentagon.” It has also granted press credentials to friendly right-wing media outlets and influencers at the expense of critical outlets. On Tuesday, though, Hegseth and the rest of the department had to face the consequences of their own words and actions.",
  "title": "Judge Cites Hegseth’s Own Words as He Blocks Pentagon’s Media Limits"
}