US media accused of publishing fake news by Trump and Hegseth, but were the reports fake?

According to a published an article on Friday evening by The Washington Post, six US officials familiar with internal Defence Department data said at least 22 to 23 US personnel had died in the Iran war, several more than the Pentagon had officially disclosed publicly, with officials expressing frustration that the toll isn’t reflected in its official casualty database.

The discrepancy reportedly follows earlier scrutiny over the Pentagon briefly excluded troop deaths from its public tally before reclassifying them under a separate ‘Overseas Operations’ category rather than tying them to the war’s official name, as the deeply unpopular conflict became a growing political liability for the Trump administration ahead of the midterms, the Washington Post added.

President Trump addressed accusations that his ban on certain media companies violated the First Amendment of the US Constitution, when a reporter pointed out that the freedom of the press was enshrined in the First Amendment, asking whether Trump’s aim was to intimidate the press, to which Trump replied: “No, I dislike honest press, like you – I think you’re terrible, but I dislike dishonour… I like to see honest press.”

Trump then defended his position to ban certain media outlets from the White House, when another reporter said that earlier today, trump posted that he intended to ban CNN, Politico, and MS Now from the White House, noting that every President takes an oath to uphold the constitution, which included the protection of the First Amendment, before asking how Trump justified his actions.

President Trump justified his actions saying that it was because the outlets were fake news: “I get so tired of reading and seeing fake news,” he said: “When you look at CNN, it’s just fake, which is why their ratings are so good, [and] when you look at MS now, which used to be MSNBC, which some people call MSDNC, Democratic National Committee, is fake news.”

The president continued: “It’s fake news, and excuse me, when you look at Politico I mean, they got a government, the government under Biden gave him, like, $8 million to keep him afloat, and the stories they wrote are so fake,” adding: “So there’s a lot of news, and there may be others to join them, and maybe they can better and would like to admit, but our country needs honest news – you know, you don’t have a country unless you have, as I say, borders, good voting.”

According to the President: “We’re straightening them out, the borders are unbelievable, and nobody’s come into our country in the last seventeen months illegally, but you need borders, and you need fair, free voting, and you know what you need?” he asked, adding: “You need a free press, a fair press, and an honest press.”

Trump also suggested that the NYT and Washington Post could be among future outlets banned from the White House: “Well, you know, look, the New York Times is so fake, [and] the Washington Post is fake news – they’re crummy papers, both doing very poorly, by the way, but we’ll see, we’re probably not gonna displace them anymore in the White house, those papers.”

According to Trump, no decision has been taken to throw then out yet, but they’re fake news: “New York Times is so fake, Washington Post is disgusting – I mean, they’re disgusting – I don’t get it, why would the be? You know, we’re doing so well, and they’ll take the most positive story and make it as negative as possible – go ahead please.”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth also commented overnight during a press conference, saying that the only media that does fake propaganda better than Iran is the US’ Trump-deranged media: “I’m serious – it’s sad,” he said.

Hegseth also took to X in a post denying the Washington Post article as fake and a complete lie, saying they were worse than the Iranian state media, but Washington Post hit back saying they stood behind the exclusive article and the six sources quoted.