Pete Hegseth Says ‘The Sooner David Ellison Takes Over’ CNN ‘the Better’ in Slamming Outlet’s Report That Trump Administration ‘Underestimated’ Iran Attack’s Impact on Strait of Hormuz

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is rooting for David Ellison‘s Paramount Skydance to close its $111 billion deal to acquire CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery, as Hegseth lashed out at the news network over a report about the Iran war.

At a press briefing Friday, Hegseth claimed that a CNN report Thursday that the Trump administration “underestimated the Iran war’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz” was “fake news.”

“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” Hegseth said at the briefing.

The CNN article in question reported that “the Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to U.S. military strikes while planning the ongoing operation.” The report cited “multiple sources familiar with the matter.” According to the CNN report, Trump’s national security team “failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration.”

Other news outlets have reported that the Trump administration had miscalculated the risks involved in attacking Iran. The New York Times, for example, published a story March 10 that said, “In the lead-up to the U.S.-Israeli attack, President Trump downplayed the risks to the energy markets as a short-term concern that should not overshadow the mission to decapitate the Iranian regime.”