In an unexpected departure from its typically adversarial stance, the Trump administration has extended a rare gesture of gratitude toward the news media.
Following last weekend’s covert U.S. military operation in Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked several news organizations for not publishing advance knowledge of the mission that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, crediting them with protecting its secrecy.
“Frankly, a number of media outlets had gotten leaks that this was coming and held it for that very reason,” Rubio said This Week. “And we thank them for doing that, or lives could have been lost. American lives.”
Rubio’s acknowledgment stands in stark contrast to the administration’s broader skepticism toward the press. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has cited distrust of journalists’ ability to handle sensitive information as justification for restrictive new press rules at the Pentagon—a policy most major outlets have rejected by vacating their Pentagon posts.
In an unexpected departure from its typically adversarial stance, the Trump administration has extended a rare gesture of gratitude toward the news media.
Following last weekend’s covert U.S. military operation in Venezuela, Secretary of State Marco Rubio thanked several news organizations for not publishing advance knowledge of the mission that led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, crediting them with protecting its secrecy.
“Frankly, a number of media outlets had gotten leaks that this was coming and held it for that very reason,” Rubio said on ABC’s This Week. “And we thank them for doing that, or lives could have been lost. American lives.”
Rubio’s acknowledgment stands in stark contrast to the administration’s broader skepticism toward the press. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has cited distrust of journalists’ ability to handle sensitive information as justification for restrictive new press rules at the Pentagon—a policy most major outlets have rejected by vacating their Pentagon posts.
By James Kisoo
