Pete Hegseth says the effort to impeach him is a sham, and he is not going anywhere.
The secretary of what the administration now calls the Department of War posted a nearly six minute video on X Thursday afternoon, filmed outside the Pentagon, two days after Republicans were routed in the midterm elections. “A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly,” Hegseth said. “Just like they tried against President Trump twice.”
“It’s all about the politics of personal destruction,” he added. “Didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that.”
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The congressman he did not name is Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican who lost his primary in May after Hegseth campaigned against him. Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment in September over Hegseth’s handling of the Iran war, accusing him of carrying out military operations without approval from Congress and of unlawful strikes on suspected drug boats. House Speaker Mike Johnson ended the session before it came to a vote.
Now Massie says he will force a vote as soon as Congress returns next week. “There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns,” he posted on X. Impeachment is the House formally charging an official with wrongdoing, which takes a simple majority. Removing him from office would then take a two thirds vote in the Senate.
Hegseth’s own party is a big part of his problem. Many Republicans are blaming him for Tuesday’s losses, arguing he pushed Trump into the Iran war without an exit plan. Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday that “the reason we lost is the war,” and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Hegseth is “not the right guy for the job.” Trump told ABC he has heard from allies unhappy with Hegseth but plans to keep him.
Hegseth did not back away from the war in the video. “Regardless of how people feel about the war, which I believe is a courageous and historic effort that will ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, we need to continue, as President Trump did in his first term, to rebuild our military,” he said.
He used the moment to ask the outgoing Congress for money, calling for “a reconciliation bill of at least $350 billion” for the department. A reconciliation bill is a budget package that can pass the Senate with a simple majority instead of the usual 60 votes. “We need every vote from every patriotic member of Congress,” Hegseth said, pointing to the lame duck session, the stretch before the new Democratic majorities are sworn in.
Much of the video was a list of his culture war wins. Hegseth said “DEI is a Marxist ideology built to destroy us, so we crushed it,” that “being trans is a mental illness incompatible with military service,” and that “sealing the border and mass deportations are military functions.” He also said Democrats and “deep state radicals” hate the department “because we tore down their sacred cows one by one and without apology.”
He closed with a message to the troops. “Don’t blink, ignore the noise, never hesitate,” he said. “We will stand. We will fight. And we will defend this republic from all enemies, foreign and domestic.” After the video went up, social media accounts tied to the Pentagon began posting the slogan “STAND.”
