Pete Hegseth fires back after rebel Republican forces humiliating impeachment vote as panicked GOP leaders brace for defectors to turn on Trump war chief
President Donald Trump’s Secretary of War Pete Hegseth defiantly fired back against an impending effort by a fellow Republican to oust him from office.
Hegseth told the press that he’s not afraid of the move to impeach him currently underway on Capitol Hill.
‘If you want to litigate our success, I’m happy to do it all day long,’ he said in response to the push.
He scheduled an emergency press briefing tomorrow to discuss his defense further – after not holding a formal media availability for over six months.
A lame-duck House of Representatives is set to vote on impeaching Hegseth this week in a move forced by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie.
Massie took to the floor of the House of Representatives to read out a 34-page impeachment resolution against Hegseth.
His reasons for removing Hegseth include ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ as well as the kidnapping of a foreign leader and ignoring laws to minimize civilian casualties.
The anti-Trump Kentucky Republican also called out Hegseth for severely limiting press access at the Pentagon.
No Democrat has publicly said they are against backing a resolution introduced by Massie to impeach Hegseth.
Massie is pushing the resolution for a vote this week, likely on Wednesday, after Congress has resumed session following a midterm elections bloodbath for Republicans.
The question now is how many Republicans will back the measure after the party’s devastating losses in last week’s midterm elections.
With 214 Democrats seated in the House, the party needs only three more Republicans to join them in the impeachment vote. Massie is one, so at least two more Republicans need to turn.
Hegseth has called Massie ‘a disgruntled, defeated congressman’ and accused him of dropping ‘sham articles of impeachment.’
There are signs that Hegseth’s red wall of defense is cracking beyond Massie.
Kentucky Republican James Comer, a staunch Trump ally who currently serves as chairman of the House Oversight Committee, believes that the votes to impeach Hegseth may be present in the House this week, but did not commit to a vote himself.
‘We really didn’t know how to message what the exit strategy was, because I don’t think anybody in Congress knows what the exit strategy is,’ Comer told Newsmax before noting the following on an impeachment vote.
Arkansas Republican French Hill, who hails from a deep red district but only won his race last week by 4,405 votes, told CBS News that he wants to ‘hear the debate’ on impeaching Hegseth.
‘I want to hear the debate on it to see if it merits impeachment versus some other disciplinary action or action by the president if he’s not getting the job done in leading the Department of War. That’s the issue,’ Hill told CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan on Face The Nation on Sunday.
‘If he’s not conducting his mission in the right way, then the president ought to make a change there.’
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, likely to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, is fully backing Massie’s impeachment resolution.
‘I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,’ Jeffries told ABC This Week anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday.
‘The so-called Secretary of Defense has abused his power, undermined our national security and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed prices on the American people and made the country less safe,’ the top House Democrat continued, before adding, ‘Pete Hegseth has got to go.’
Massie has blasted Hegseth for committing ‘high crimes and misdemeanors,’ and for continuing to carry out military actions in Iran despite Congress never formally declaring a conflict in the region.
Massie’s introduction of a privileged resolution will force a vote on the matter by using a procedural move that allows issues to bypass the committee process.
He used a similar method to force a vote on the release of the Epstein Files last year, rejecting pressure from GOP leadership to kill his transparency campaign. Massie has also said he would only drop the current impeachment push if Hegseth resigns.
A simple majority is needed in the House to pass an impeachment resolution, but a two-thirds vote is required in the Senate to convict in a trial.
President Trump has stood by his Pentagon chief, telling CBS News in a 60 Minutes interview that aired on Sunday that he has confidence in Hegseth.
–
About Post Author
