US WAR Secretary Pete Hegseth has been slapped down again by a federal judge for restricting press access to Pentagon briefings.

District court judge Paul Friedman said a new requirement that journalists be escorted into the Pentagon by Defence Department staff effectively undermined the court’s previous ruling that it could not remove press passes from seven New York Times journalists.

He also struck out a clause penalising “inducement of unauthorised disclosures,” which he said was simply new language for a previous policy prohibiting journalists from “soliciting” unauthorised information from government or military officials, which prompted a mass walkout by Pentagon-accredited journalists in the autumn.

The Donald Trump administration has restricted independent media access to government briefings and Mr Hegseth in particular stands accused of seeking to silence critical voices, having slammed broadcaster CNN’s reportage of the Iran war and added that he was looking forward to the channel being bought by pro-Trump billionaire David Ellison, insinuating it would then toe the White House line.