The Walls Close In on Hegseth

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s name wasn’t on the ballot in last week’s midterms, but he still may end up being one of their biggest losers. Top Republicans, including U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, have blamed the Iran war for their midterms wipeout. With Hegseth having played a key role prosecuting and cheerleading the war, he’s a prime target for intraparty retribution post-midterms. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s name wasn’t on the ballot in last week’s midterms, but he still may end up being one of their biggest losers. Top Republicans, including U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, have blamed the Iran war for their midterms wipeout. With Hegseth having played a key role prosecuting and cheerleading the war, he’s a prime target for intraparty retribution post-midterms. Outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie, who is among U.S. President Donald Trump’s biggest Republican critics on Capitol Hill, on Monday introduced a resolution to impeach Hegseth for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” In remarks on the House floor, Massie said that the defense secretary “knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders to initiate war against a foreign nation.” He also said that Hegseth has demonstrated that he will remain a “threat” to the U.S. Constitution. Massie’s resolution contains eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, accusing him of waging the Iran war without congressional authorization and ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties. Other articles focus on lethal U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats near Latin America, which Massie described as “extrajudicial killings,” and the U.S. operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The resolution characterized the Maduro raid as the unlawful “kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader.” Massie previously introduced impeachment articles against Hegseth in September, but House Speaker Mike Johnson blocked the effort—pushing it until after the midterms—by recessing the lower chamber early. The House now has until Wednesday to schedule a vote. The chances of the articles passing are “far more likely now than before the election,” Massie told CNN on Monday. Impeaching Hegseth requires a simple majority vote in the House. However, Johnson urged lawmakers against impeaching Hegseth, stating that it would be a “terrible look” while the country is in the “middle of hostilities abroad.” Meanwhile, top House Democrats are also lining up behind the effort to impeach Hegseth. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to be the next House speaker, told ABC News on Sunday that he’s a “hard yes” on the impeachment resolution and that he believes there will be “incredibly strong support” among the rest of House Democrats. It’s harder to say whether there would be enough support in the GOP-controlled Senate to reach the two-thirds supermajority vote necessary to convict and remove Hegseth. It’s also an open question if there’s enough time in the current congressional session for there to be an impeachment trial in the Senate. But Democrats could also push to impeach Hegseth again in a new Congress. Even if Hegseth survives impeachment and Trump continues to back him, the defense secretary is poised to face relentless scrutiny after Democrats assume control of Congress on Jan. 3. Democrats have made it clear that they plan to fully leverage their oversight powers—and that Hegseth will be in their crosshairs. This means investigations, hearings, and subpoenas are coming. Democrats have already indicated that they want more answers from Hegseth on everything from the Iran war to the boat strikes. Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, vowed to conduct “vigorous oversight” of the U.S. Defense Department in a new Congress. “The list of potential oversight topics is long, but the illegal war against Iran is top of mind for me and the American people,” he said. But as the walls close in around him, Hegseth has remained defiant. In comments to reporters on Monday before Massie introduced the articles of impeachment, Hegseth made no apologies. “If you want to take issue with what we did in Epic Fury, or Rough Rider, or nabbing Nicolás Maduro, you’re taking issue with the troops and what they accomplished,” he said. (Operation Epic Fury is the U.S. military’s name for the first phase of the Iran war, from February to May, while Operation Rough Rider is the Pentagon’s name for the U.S. military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen last spring.) Last week, Hegseth released a video taking aim at his political opponents. “This is not about me, but of course the other side, they’re obsessed. A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democratic allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly. Just like they tried against President Trump twice,” he said. The video landed poorly even among some Republicans. “@PeteHegseth, cabinet secretaries shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer dollars on campaign style videos. Kristi Noem learned that the hard way,” Sen. Thom Tillis posted on X. “This is about you,” he added, accusing Hegseth of displaying incompetence, offering bad advice to Trump, and being involved in “shameful” and embarrassing “episodes from firing our top generals to texting war plans to reporters.” Tillis was seemingly referring to the Signalgate controversy—a major national security scandal that Hegseth was at the center of early last year. In many ways, it comes as no surprise that Hegseth is now in the crosshairs of Democrats and Republicans alike. He’s been a combative and divisive Pentagon chief from the start, spending much of his energy waging culture wars—such as by moving to ban transgender people from serving in the military and targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion policies—while using the Defense Department as a platform to promote his far-right Christian views. He’s also ruffled feathers by pushing out top military leaders and denying promotions for Black and women soldiers. Meanwhile, Hegseth has had an extraordinarily contentious dynamic with the press, effectively hollowing out the Pentagon press corps after major outlets refused to agree to restrictions that he sought to impose on their reporting. Hegseth has made a lot of enemies in Washington in the process, and he seems to have fewer allies by the day. Even months before the midterms, there were signs that some Republican lawmakers were souring on him. As Republicans play the blame game over their losses in the midterms, support for Hegseth appears to be cratering—even among GOP lawmakers who are wary of publicly supporting impeachment. When asked about where he stands on impeaching Hegseth, Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, told NewsNation: “I can tell you with a high level of confidence that there’s a lot of questions about Hegseth. We have no idea what the strategy is moving forward in Iran. No one’s happy about Iran, and I think the Republican voters are more upset about what’s going on in Iran than the Democrat voters.” On Monday, Rep. Don Bacon told reporters that he was weighing whether to support Massie’s impeachment resolution. But he also said that it would be better for Hegseth to resign. “I don’t think he was the right choice to begin with,” he said. Trump has so far stood by Hegseth and pushed back against questions about the defense secretary’s job security. “He’s guilty of two things, basically winning two wars,” Trump said of Hegseth on Sunday. “I believe we saved the Middle East and Israel combined. And it’s awfully hard to say ‘let’s impeach’ somebody who did that.” Hegseth has been among Trump’s most loyal cabinet secretaries since he returned to the White House, and critics have portrayed Hegseth as a prime example of the yes-men culture surrounding Trump. But loyalty hasn’t always paid off for those in the president’s orbit, as he has a history of turning on even his most faithful advisors. Recent reports suggest that Trump has been asking allies about a potential replacement for Hegseth. Trump has also acknowledged receiving calls from people who are unhappy with the Pentagon chief, though he said that he didn’t understand why.