JUST IN – Trump's Pentagon confiscates "virtually every" major media organization's press passes for refusing to sign on to new Department of War media policy. pic.twitter.com/Z4WKuOOsey
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) October 15, 2025
ABC News captured a picture of journalists with CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC, and over a dozen other media outlets from across the political spectrum, gathered outside the Pentagon earlier this afternoon, consisting of what once was the Pentagon Press Corps. pic.twitter.com/w1FTVkw6Ee
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) October 15, 2025
CNN: "Reporters have been showing up at the Pentagon today & handing in their press passes."
"This is an extraordinary moment." pic.twitter.com/9sOFV53nef
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 15, 2025
Reporters from all major news outlets cleared out of the Pentagon on Wednesday after refusing to sign on to new Trump administration press restrictions for the complex.
Journalists, some of whom have covered the Defense Department for decades, turned in their press badges and cleared belongings out of workspaces. Per the AP, many reporters waited until 4 p.m. to depart. That was the deadline set to exit the building.
Media organizations had until Tuesday evening to decide whether to agree to a new policy that sought to limit journalists from seeking out information that had not been approved by Pentagon officials, even unclassified material.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended to policy, saying that it “now has same rules as every U.S military installation.” But he has falsely claimed that reporters have been allowed to roam free around the complex, even without badges.