Lauren Boebert's sex scandal lecture backfires instantly: 'Irony shot and killed'

"Our press are just like these Pharisees, not all of you," said Hegseth in the clip. "Not all of you, but the legacy Trump-hating press. Your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors. The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation."

First of all, said Tapper, "No one's doubting the warriors. I think the skepticism is of the leaders of the warriors."

Additionally, he continued, "Hegseth there likening the news media to the Pharisees, opponents of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. So in Hegseth's analogy, doubting Donald Trump is like doubting Jesus Christ, and covering the war on Iran with skepticism of Trump's claims and Hegseth's claims, many of which have to be kind, not proven accurate is, I suppose, the same thing as doubting the miracles of Jesus."

"What a warped view of what the news media is supposed to do, and what a view he seems to have of this war," said Tapper. "And frankly, what better way to cap off a spring of sacrilege by the Trump team?"

This comes after Trump outraged even many of his own supporters by posting an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus, which he scrambled to walk back, and publicly attacked the pope for being critical of war.

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"Sadly, Mayor Mamdani is DESTROYING New York! It has no chance!" Trump wrote. "The United States of America should not contribute to its failure. It will only get WORSE. The TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG. People are fleeing."

"They must change their ways, AND FAST. History has proven, THIS 'STUFF' JUST DOESN’T WORK," Trump continued.

Boebert's comments come as the House debates reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires April 20 unless extended. The provision allows intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign targets without a traditional warrant, but critics say it has been used to sweep up Americans' data, too.

The White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson have pushed for a clean 18-month extension with no reforms attached. The House Rules Committee approved a closed rule blocking a warrant amendment from even coming to a floor vote.

A key sticking point for Boebert and other reform-minded lawmakers is the so-called "data broker loophole," the ability of federal agencies to purchase Americans' location records and internet metadata from commercial data brokers, data that is normally protected under the Fourth Amendment.

More than 50 House Democrats joined the push to include Fourth Amendment protections in the reauthorization. The unusual left-right coalition puts Boebert in rare alignment with progressive lawmakers, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who told reporters on Thursday FISA has been a "constitutional crisis since its drafting."

"We've had a huge amount of problems with warrantless surveillance wiretapping against American civilians," she said.

She accused Republicans of using national security as an "excuse to invade and violate the civil rights of everyday Americans."

President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated that he had reversed his stance on the surveillance tool and bill he long complained contributed to the "witch hunt" of him.