Secretary of War Pete Hegseth came out swinging on Tuesday morning, using his first Pentagon press conference in six months to tear into the effort to impeach him.
“What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, and it’s not accountability. It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon, according to ABC News and the Associated Press.
The impeachment push
The “disgruntled and defeated congressman” is Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. On Monday afternoon, Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment on the House floor accusing Hegseth of high crimes and misdemeanors. According to NPR, three of the charges accuse him of illegally waging war against Iran. Others cover the strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, ignoring laws meant to minimize civilian casualties, and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without congressional authorization.
Because impeachment is a privileged matter, the House has to take up the measure within two legislative days, ABC News reported. That forces Republicans to go on the record just a week after last Tuesday’s midterm losses.
“Policy disagreements, not high crimes”
Hegseth argued that nothing in Massie’s resolution comes close to an impeachable offense. He called the complaints “policy disagreements, not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause.”
“The proper remedy for a policy disagreement, it’s legislation, it’s debate, it’s the next presidential election,” he said.
He also warned that the resolution sends a dangerous message overseas, telling America’s enemies that Congress will “punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations.”
Trump has his back
President Trump is standing firmly behind his War Secretary. At a White House briefing on Monday, shortly after the articles were introduced, Trump said Hegseth has “won the war in Iran,” adding that Iran’s navy and air force have been “obliterated” and that Tehran “would love to make a deal.” Trump also blasted Massie as a “stone cold loser.”
What happens next
Only a handful of Republicans would need to join Democrats for impeachment to pass the House, NPR reported, which would send the case to a Senate trial. Actually removing Hegseth from office would take 67 senators, a high bar even after Democrats take control of the chamber in January.
For now, Hegseth is making it clear he isn’t going anywhere, and he isn’t backing down.