WASHINGTON (AP) — Gabrielle Cuccia, Pentagon correspondent for the conservative One America News Network (OAN), has learned firsthand the limits of expressing personal opinions within politically aligned media. Days after publishing a critical essay about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — a fellow Trump supporter — Cuccia said she was fired and her access to the Pentagon revoked.

Cuccia, who openly describes herself as a “MAGA girl” and an unwavering supporter of Donald Trump, broke ranks in a Substack post titled “The Secretary of Defense-ive,” where she challenged Hegseth’s new restrictions on press access at the Pentagon. Her commentary, published three days after Hegseth announced new rules barring journalists from many areas unless escorted, questioned both the policy and its motives.

“The Pentagon wants to paint a picture that journalists are freely roaming classified spaces and leaking top-secret information. That is simply not true,” Cuccia wrote, arguing that real leaks had come from Hegseth’s own staff — referencing a recent mishap in which a senior editor was mistakenly added to a private Signal chat about classified military operations.

She also criticized Hegseth for failing to hold a formal press briefing, contrasting his silence with Trump’s willingness to face tough questions. “The Commander-in-Chief welcomes the hard questions… Why won’t the Secretary of Defense do the same?” she wrote.

Within days of the Memorial Day post, Cuccia said she lost her Pentagon press badge and her job. While a Defense Department official, speaking anonymously, said the agency did not revoke her credentials, Cuccia claimed OAN informed her the piece had come to their attention — though she declined to name who flagged it.

OAN president Charles Herring declined to comment on personnel matters. Cuccia, for her part, framed the fallout as a troubling example of political loyalty being enforced at the cost of honest reporting. “When a reporter asks inconvenient questions about government overreach, the response should be accountability — not silence, and certainly not separation,” she said.

Journalism experts note that even in traditional newsrooms, expressing personal opinions about subjects one covers is typically discouraged, as it can undermine credibility. However, when press freedom is involved, some leeway is often allowed. “When media access is at stake, it’s not unusual for journalists to speak up,” said Tom Rosenstiel, a journalism professor at the University of Maryland.

OAN has long aligned itself closely with Trump, defending his claims about the 2020 election and hiring allies such as Rep. Matt Gaetz after his political appointment collapsed. When Hegseth reshuffled press access at the Pentagon earlier this year, he expelled several mainstream outlets and gave OAN the office space formerly used by NBC News.

Cuccia alleged that before a rare media appearance by Hegseth aide Sean Parnell, her questions were solicited in advance — something uncommon in most press environments.

Rosenstiel said Cuccia’s firing, if confirmed to be at OAN’s behest, reflects a rigid demand for ideological conformity. “There is no room, if you’re on the team, to say anything that is negative,” he said, adding that it will be telling to see whether other pro-Trump outlets support her or stay silent.

In her Substack essay, Cuccia appeared to anticipate the consequences, reflecting on how the original MAGA movement embraced questioning authority. “Somewhere along the way, we decided that if anyone questioned a policy or person within the MAGA movement, they weren’t MAGA enough,” she wrote. “That they were deep state… that they couldn’t be trusted.”

Now, she finds herself on the receiving end of that mindset.