War Secretary Pete Hegseth made abundantly clear on Tuesday that he’s staying in the fight even though Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced eight articles of impeachment on Monday accusing him of high crimes and misdemeanors.
The articles of impeachment from Massie accuse Hegseth of: waging war in contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973; “ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties”; ordering extrajudicial killings; suppressing free speech; kidnapping former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro; and conducting an “unlawful war in Yemen.”
The proper remedy for such disagreements is ‘legislation. It’s debate. … It’s not handing the House and Senate floor to the Democrats so that they can run a show trial against the president and the secretary of war.’
At a press conference Tuesday, Hegseth called the impeachment effort a “farce” and a “political spectacle” driven by Massie’s “ego and resentment.”
Hegseth also argued that surrender at this stage would present America’s adversaries with a “propaganda victory” and set the stage for future prosecution of warfighters down the chain of command.
“In the 250 years of our American republic, no secretary of war or secretary of defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations,” said Hegseth. He alluded to military interventions in recent decades — in Lebanon, Kosovo, Iraq, and Syria — which did not result in the impeachment of his predecessors.
Hegseth argued that the allegations from Massie are not high crimes and misdemeanors but rather “policy disagreements,” and suggested that the proper remedy for such disagreements is “legislation” and “debate.”
“It’s debate. It’s the next presidential election. It’s not handing the House and Senate floor to the Democrats so that they can run a show trial against the president and the secretary of war while Republicans still control Congress and should be delivering wins for the American people.”
The war secretary further defended his job and refuted Massie’s allegations that various military operations were unlawful, stating, “Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen — every one was a lawful operation ordered by the commander in chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress, and executed by American warriors who did their jobs.”
“This is not about me,” said Hegseth. “Politicians in Washington have accused the sailors and the pilots who struck narco-terrorist boats of war crimes for doing their job.”
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“Put the secretary on trial today, and the men and women who carried out those orders tomorrow,” Hegseth warned.
Hegseth — who dodged a question about Vice President JD Vance’s criticism that Republicans were wiped out in the midterm election because of the Iran conflict — alluded to previous attempts to impeach President Donald Trump and suggested that those pursuing his own ouster now “will fail again.”
President Donald Trump reiterated his support for the war secretary in a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, writing, “Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!”
On Monday, the day before the press conference, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to Blaze News, “Secretary Hegseth will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points or launch phony investigations where no wrongdoing exists.”
“The Department of War has followed the law and our Secretary will continue to stand and fight every single day to support and defend the Constitution, lead our troops, and protect America.”
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Department of war, Donald trump, Impeachment, Iran, Pentagon, Pete hegseth, Politics, Thomas massie, Venezuela