Laura Loomer, Matt Gaetz show for first Pentagon briefing after press corps ‘self deports’

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon Press Corps has a new look — and it includes several familiar faces.

Right-wing firebrands Laura Loomer and former Rep. Matt Gaetz appeared in the audience Tuesday of the Department of War‘s first press conference after the old guard of Pentagon reporters surrendered their building passes in lieu of signing a controversial agreement with the Department of War’s press office.

Gaetz, who resigned from Congress in January and hosts a talkshow on One America News, pressed DoW spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson on what a “post-Maduro” Venezuela would look like as the US amps up military pressure there.

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“if Nicolas Maduro leaves Venezuela today, what role will the Department of War have in a post-Maduro Venezuela?” he asked. “And describe the process the administration will use to determine whether or not current members of the Venezuelan military or Venezuelan government have a role in a post-Maduro Venezuela?”

Wilson, who touted Hegseth’s Pentagon as the “most transparent” in American history, did not provide a detailed response. Instead, she said the Pentagon “has a contingency plan for everything.”

Gaetz, wearing an old jacket reading “Representative Matt Gaetz,” then pressed further, asking whether the administration “take the view that any person who served in the Venezuelan military or Venezuelan government is definitionally a narcoterrorist.”

“That would be a determination for the President to make,” Wilson responded. “But I can tell you that every single person who we have hit thus far who is in a drug boat carrying narcotics to the United States is a narco terrorist.”

Loomer — a frequent Qatar critic — pressed Wilson on why the US would move ahead with selling Doha F-16 fighter jets and training their armed forces on the US platform, given that Trump “has started the process of designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign Islamic terrorist organization.”

“Given the fact that the Qatari royal family and Qatar itself is the biggest financier, along with Turkey, of course, the financier of the Muslim Brotherhood, would that relationship and partnership be reevaluated, since the designation could possibly include Qatar,” she further asked.

Qatar has long been dogged by accusations of cozying up to the Muslim Brotherhood, giving the Islamist group’s top figures safe haven, a megaphone and even money over the years. However, they deny official ties to the terror organization.

“I’m not tracking any reevaluation at this time,” Wilson said. “But again, the secretary really keeps national security top of mind, and this administration does as well, so we will always make sure that American assets are protected.”

In a contentious moment, an unknown briefing attendee pushed back on Loomer’s question, asking whether the US was reassessing its relationship with Israel after asserting that the “Israeli government funded Hamas.”

Wilson did not push back on the bold accusation that the Jewish state funds the terrorist organization that launched the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, but instead directed the question to the State Department.

“That would be a better question for the State Department, as they’re the ones who have those foreign diplomatic channels,” she said.

The Post was one of the dozens of media outlets — including Fox News, the New York Times and Newsmax — to turn in their press badges rather than sign the new agreement acknowledging passholders would not report information not given to them by official spokespersons.

Outlets that did not sign the agreement were explicitly banned from asking questions at the briefing on Tuesday, according to an email from the Pentagon’s press shop.

“Legacy media chose to self deport from this building, and if you look at the numbers, it’s pretty clear why no one followed them. National trust in these mainstream media outlets has cratered to 28% — the lowest ever recorded,” Wilson said from the podium. “The American people don’t trust these propagandists because they stopped telling the truth.”

“We’re not going to beg these old gatekeepers to come back, and we’re not rebuilding a broken model just to appease them. Instead, we’re welcoming new media outlets that actually reach Americans, ask real questions and don’t pursue a biased agenda,” she added.