(WASHINGTON) — Trump added about the pilots that “they were devastated. They put their lives on the line.”
Since Saturday’s attack, Trump and his officials have repeatedly praised the B-2 pilots for the mission but stepped up referencing them as part of the pushback on Wednesday. Hegseth, standing next to Trump, came to the microphone to argue news reporters and outlets “don’t care what the troops think.”
“These pilots, these refuelers, these fighters, these air defenders, the skill and the courage it took to go into enemy territory flying 36 hours on behalf of the American people in the world to take out a nuclear program is beyond what anyone in this audience can fathom,” Hegseth said.
At the same time, Hegseth and Trump downplayed the report’s initial findings about the damage.
“The report said what it said and it was fine. It was severe, they think, but they had no idea. They shouldn’t have issued a report until they did, but we’ve got the information,” Trump said.
Trump earlier cited an Israeli intelligence report that he insisted assessed the “strike on Fordo destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable.”
Military officials have said there is no doubt the sites sustained significant damage, but that a “battle damage assessment” would take time to complete, as no Western officials have been able to personally inspect the sites as of Wednesday.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a statement posted on X late Wednesday that “Iran’s nuclear facilities have been destroyed,” and also slamming the news media. A source with knowledge of Gabbard’s assessment told ABC News her description came from new U.S. intelligence.
“The propaganda media has deployed their usual tactic: selectively release portions of illegally leaked classified intelligence assessments (intentionally leaving out the fact that the assessment was written with “low confidence”) to try to undermine President Trump’s decisive leadership and the brave servicemen and women who flawlessly executed a truly historic mission to keep the American people safe and secure,” she posted in part.
Hegseth contended that the preliminary reports and images spoke for themselves.
“So, if you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordo, you better get a big shovel and go really deep because Iran’s nuclear program is obliterated and somebody somewhere is trying to leak something to say, ‘Oh, with low confidence we think maybe it’s moderate,” he claimed.
-ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson, Kelsey Walsh and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
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