Pete Hegseth on impeachment effort: ‘It is a farce and everybody knows it’

The countdown to the impeachment proceedings against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is advancing, while the Pentagon chief is making clear that he intends to fight for his political survival. Speaking at a press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday, he said the effort “is a farce. And it’s a stunt. And everybody knows it.”“What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, and it’s not accountability,” he said in reference to Republican Senator Thomas Massie, who introduced articles of impeachment on Monday. “It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment. Time for one man’s final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it. It is a farce. And it’s a stunt. And everybody knows it.”The impeachment effort concerns Hegseth’s role in the Iran war and the bombing of suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific. The fact that the move was initiated not by a Democrat but by a member of U.S. President Donald Trump’s party makes it especially awkward for the administration. How the process unfolds will offer a measure of the extent to which the government has been weakened by the Democrats’ sweeping victory in last week’s midterm elections, which handed them commanding majorities in both the House and the Senate.Hegseth said Massie’s initiative amounts to “sabotage.” “This resolution [...] tells our enemies - Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching - that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations,” he said.The press conference itself was unusual. Hegseth had not held a briefing to take questions from reporters at the Pentagon since May, after the large-scale bombing phase of the war against Iran came to an end. The defense secretary did not face the press even after a Navy commander was killed in a helicopter crash in the Gulf region, nor when three U.S. service members were killed in an Iranian missile strike on a base in Jordan on July 17.Massie has introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, citing his role in the war against Iran, the bombing of suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and the alleged use of his office to target political rivals. The filing of the impeachment articles triggers a 48-hour window for the House of Representatives to hold a vote on whether to approve the charges.President Donald Trump has so far stood firmly behind the former Fox News host. In a post on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump described Massie as “a total loser” and accused him of “ trying to impeach perhaps the most popular and successful military official in the country.”“With recruitment at an all-time high [...] and two victories, Venezuela and Iran, Pete Hegseth should be praised, not impeached,” the president wrote, urging Congress to “stand up for Pete.”The House is likely to approve the articles, since only a simple majority of 218 votes is required. Democrats hold 214 seats and are expected to back the impeachment effort, meaning that, in addition to Massie, they would need the support of just three more Republicans.Even if the impeachment articles pass the House, the case would then move to the Senate, where it is unlikely to succeed. Conviction requires a two-thirds majority, or 67 votes. Until the new Congress is sworn in January, Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, compared with 47 for Democrats.Massie has predicted that Hegseth will be removed from office within weeks and “won’t make it until December 31” as defense secretary. In an interview with CNN, the Kentucky Republican argued that impeachment is a relatively “gentle” measure compared with the wave of investigations Democrats are expected to launch once the new Congress is sworn in next January.“An impeachment is just firing somebody, really. You don’t go to prison. You don’t go to jail. You don’t pay a fine,” Massie said, warning that the next, Democratic-majority Congress will “bring people in here [to testify] who have served under him and with him.”Massie’s impeachment resolution accuses Hegseth of authorizing, supporting and pursuing military operations that lacked “defined objectives, lawful authorization, or clear strategic necessity.” It argues that those actions exposed U.S. service members to “substantial and foreseeable risk of injury or death.”The resolution, however, does not focus solely on Iran. It also accuses the defense secretary of withholding information about civilian casualties in Venezuela and other theaters of operation, and of “denigrating” women, LGBTQ+ people and people of color serving in the U.S. military, “including by forcibly separating transgender people from service.”Following Massie’s move, Democrats sharply criticized the defense secretary. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the upper chamber “needs to put Pete Hegseth on trial so we can remove him for his catastrophic failure in Iran.”Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition