Reporter says she was fired from Trump-friendly outlet after criticizing Hegseth

A pro-Donald Trump journalist says she was fired from her job after criticizing the president’s secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, over his attempts to restrict media access at the Pentagon.

Gabrielle Cuccia, the former chief Pentagon correspondent for the far-right, Trump-friendly media outlet One America News (OAN), says she was terminated shortly after she published a Substack post accusing Hegseth’s defense department of clamping down on press access. She had said the restrictions were disturbing, questioned the defense department’s motives in tightening media restrictions, and noted that Hegseth has yet to hold a formal press conference since taking office.

Cuccia claimed the shift began after the controversy known as “Signalgate”, in which Hegseth – a former Fox News anchor – allegedly shared sensitive military details in a group chat that inadvertently included a well-known journalist from the Atlantic. According to Cuccia, that scandal marked the beginning of a broader effort to limit media interaction at the Pentagon.

“Let’s be honest – since January, the real leaks from the Pentagon haven’t come from the press,” she wrote in her Substack. “They’ve come from Hegseth’s own team and other senior officials.”

Alluding to Trump’s Make America Great Again (Maga) movement and Russian election interference in the US, she added: “As a MAGA girl myself, I cannot stand when we take something super serious and legitimate – such as the Russia Hoax – and conflate everything and anything that is an inconvenient truth, throw in the towel and say, ‘Yep its just a Russia Hoax,’ and then proceed to call people losers and liars for reporting something that was unfortunately … true.”

Cuccia pointed out how there has been only one press briefing under Hegseth’s leadership of the Pentagon during Trump’s second presidency, which began in January. None have been held after Signalgate, which occurred in March. Her breaking point reportedly came last week, when the Pentagon instituted a new policy requiring journalists to be escorted by public affairs staff to access Hegseth’s office.

“The Pentagon wants to paint a picture that journalists are freely roaming classified spaces, sneaking into [sensitive compartmented information facilities], and leaking top-secret information. And that is simply not true,” the post said.

Officials justified the move by stating it would minimize the risk of accidental or unauthorized disclosures.

Cuccia also highlighted her conservative background in the post, emphasizing her ongoing loyalty to the conservative movement. She recalled her time at the University of Pennsylvania, where she said she was branded a “racist” and a “fascist” for not joining Black Lives Matter protests.

Despite her service to Maga, Cuccia told CNN that she was asked to turn in her Pentagon badge to her bureau chief after the Substack post about Hegseth’s increased media restrictions.

Her resume includes a stint in the White House in 2017 and 2018, during Trump’s first presidency. She then spent several years reporting for OAN and working as a government contractor.

One of Cuccia’s past appearances on Newsmax, another far-right outlet, went viral after she echoed Trump’s lies that electoral fraudsters ensured his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Cuccia’s remarks prompted the anchor to cut the segment short.