Parnell: Hegseth ‘100% committed’ to leading the Department until Trump’s term ends
Rep. Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth largely focuses on the war in Iran but also references Hegseth’s role in military actions in Yemen against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and in Venezuela. Massie said Hegseth’s actions amount to ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ and his leadership at the Pentagon ‘warrants impeachment.’ Filed in the House on Monday, the resolution sets up a possible vote on whether to remove a prominent Trump administration figure following sweeping losses for Republicans in last week’s midterm elections that many at least partly blamed on the Iran conflict and its economic impact.
The filing arrives as the U.S. military has kept up intermittent operations against the Islamic Republic as well as fatal strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in Latin America, and Hegseth has been defending his stewardship of the U.S. military. Iran has been able to keep striking U.S. military bases in the Middle East and has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the course of the more than 8-month-old conflict, driving up global oil prices.
President Donald Trump has backed Hegseth, pointing to the raid to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January as well as military operations against Iran that he asserts have ‘obliterated’ its navy and air force. Trump told reporters Monday that the Iran war ‘militarily is effectively over’ and repeated his often-made claim that Iran ‘would love to make a deal.’
Hegseth has launched a social media blitz and said he is ready to defend his and President Donald Trump’s actions from ‘politically motivated people.’ In a video released on social media last week, Hegseth argued impeachment would be ‘all about the politics of personal destruction’ and ‘won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that.’
Afterward, scores of Pentagon political appointees posted images of Hegseth emblazoned with the words, ‘Stand. Fight. Defend the Republic.’
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, released a statement saying that ‘despite threats of sham witch hunts from Democrats,’ Hegseth is ‘100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump’s term in office.’
Speaking Monday after a speech at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, Hegseth said, ‘There’s a lot of politically motivated people who may have substantial policy disagreements, but their disagreements are with success.’ He added that ‘if we want to litigate’ the military actions that the Trump administration has taken, ‘I’m happy to do it all day long.’
Hegseth is scheduled to give his first news conference from the Pentagon in six months on Tuesday, his first since May, and has said the briefing would focus on the impeachment threat. A vote in the House could come by midweek, putting pressure on Republicans — many of whom at least partly blamed the Iran war for the party’s sweeping midterm losses — but the next steps remain highly uncertain.
Massie, a Kentucky Republican who lost his primary to a Trump-backed opponent, set the resolution in motion on Monday. Hegseth has framed the challenge as political, while the resolution concerns his decisions on the Iran war and other military operations.