Washington — A correspondent for a far-right leaning news outlet is under consideration to become the chief spokesperson for President Trump’s new Navy secretary, CBS News has learned.
Breitbart News Pentagon correspondent Kristina Wong, formerly of The Washington Times and The Hill, is in the running to be chief spokesperson for Navy Secretary John Phelan, according to current and former Defense Department officials with knowledge of the situation who spoke to CBS News under the condition of anonymity.
Wong didn’t reply to attempts by CBS News to contact her late Tuesday.
Breitbart, which says it is dedicated to “truthful reporting and the free and open exchange of ideas,” was formerly headed by Trump ally Steve Bannon. The Library of Congress describes it as “an American far-right syndicated news, opinion and commentary website founded in mid-2007 by American conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart, who conceived it as ‘the Huffington Post of the right’.”
Wong filed a story for Breitbart Tuesday evening on the ouster of Dan Caldwell, a top adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Caldwell and Darin Selnick, the Pentagon’s deputy chief of staff, were suspended pending an investigation into unauthorized disclosures. Wong, quoting an anonymous source, said Caldwell was leaking information to “far-left reporters to hurt the secretary.”
Wong’s story did not disclose that she was being considered for a position at the Pentagon while working as a Pentagon correspondent for Breitbart — a break from traditional ethical norms of journalism. The code of ethics from the Society of Professional Journalists states that journalists should “act independently” from the people and institutions they cover and “avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts.”
Wong has covered a litany of national security issues primarily for conservative-leaning news outlets for well over a decade, dating back to the Obama administration and the post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
She was hired by Breitbart in 2017 to cover the Pentagon and U.S. military following her stint at The Hill, where she covered the Pentagon and defense affairs on Capitol Hill, according to Axios. In recent years, she has served as treasurer for the Military Reporters and Editors association, the leading professional organization for U.S. journalists covering national security.
But since Mr. Trump’s return to the Oval Office, Wong has written glowing stories about the administration, for example, describing Hegseth “earning respect” after a physical fitness session with Army Special Forces soldiers.
In another instance, she praised chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell’s first and, to date, only on-camera Pentagon press briefing and defended Hegseth’s role in the Signal chat disclosure as she called out “malicious leaks from inside the Pentagon (that the legacy media happily facilitates).”
In February, the Defense Department forced The New York Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, CNN and NPR to vacate long-held offices provided to them by the Pentagon in favor of Breitbart News and One American News Network, outlets that have been vocal in their support of the president. The left-leaning Huffington Post was also given new office space despite not having a Pentagon correspondent at the time.
The Pentagon Press Association, the National Press Club and the Military Reporters and Editors association issued letters of concern to the Defense Department about the office shuffles.
contributed to this report.
