U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the effort to impeach him a “political spectacle” and a personal manifesto driven by ego and dissatisfaction.
To push back against the effort, he cited U.S. interventions in Kosovo and elsewhere. According to Hegseth, no defense secretary has been impeached for such operations, regardless of whether there was a war powers resolution. He mentioned the intervention in Lebanon under Reagan, the one in Kosovo under Clinton, and operations in Iraq and Syria under Obama and Biden, saying that had been the standard.
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At a news conference at the Pentagon, Hegseth said he had directed lawful and successful military operations and that no defense secretary had been impeached for doing so. He described Republican congressman Thomas Massie as a defeated and disgruntled lawmaker who, he said, was not conducting genuine oversight. Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth on Monday, having lost a Republican primary earlier this year.
The House of Representatives is expected to hold a procedural vote on Tuesday that will show how many Republicans are willing to withhold their support from Hegseth. This is only the first step: the vote will determine whether the House considers the articles of impeachment or Republican leaders stop the effort before it goes to a vote among lawmakers.
