Trump official's bold claim instantly backfires: 'These spineless cowards are terrified'

A spokesperson for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth caught heat from political analysts and observers on Monday after making a wild claim about the department's "transparency" on social media.

"This is the most transparent War Department in history. No amount of spin from the Fake News media will change that," Joel Valdez, the acting press secretary for DoD, posted on his official X account.

"The Pentagon Press Office has been redesignated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility due to speechwriters from the Office of the Secretary of War sharing the facility," he added. "These speechwriters routinely handle classified material and require SIPRNet access. As a result, journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space. There’s nothing controversial about that."

Valdez's comments came at a time when Hegseth has faced considerable scrutiny over his use of encrypted messaging platforms and his handling of classified information. Last year, Hegseth was in a Signal group text that disclosed sensitive military operations to The Atlantic's Editor-in-Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg.

Political analysts and observers roasted the spokesperson online.

"This is all lies. These spineless cowards are absolutely terrified of the free press," Fred Wellman, a Democratic candidate in Missouri, posted on X.

"Last year @SeanParnellASW promised the press the most transparent Pentagon ever," Konstantin Toropin, a Pentagon reporter at the Associated Press, posted on X. "Now, their position is that “there’s nothing controversial” about designating the office with their press officers - officers and civilians that are supposed to work with the press - as classified."

"Fact check: The latter three paragraphs of Joel's statement appear to be true. The bit about transparency, not so much," Dan Lamothe, military affairs reporter at The Washington Post, posted on X.