Pete Hegseth Fights Back Against Impeachment, Calls Iran War ‘Courageous’

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has vowed to fight the impeachment effort against him in Congress, calling it a sham in a defiant video message on Thursday and saying he will not step aside.

In the video, which ran for more than four minutes and was posted on social media, Hegseth said his opponents were targeting him because he gets results.

“We will not back down,” Hegseth said to the camera.

He said his critics were attacking him and the entire team at the Pentagon because they were effective, adding that their efforts would not succeed.

He dismissed the impeachment effort as part of what he called the “politics of personal destruction.” He noted that Trump himself had been impeached twice and argued that what had failed against the president would also fail against him.

The video came as criticism from members of Congress grew louder following Tuesday’s midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of both chambers.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie has pledged to reintroduce his articles of impeachment against Hegseth next week. He filed eight articles in September, accusing Hegseth of overstepping Congress’s authority over war, carrying out unlawful military operations, and failing to protect civilians, among other allegations. The House never voted on them.

Massie warned on X that impeachment now would be “Gentle” compared with what Hegseth would face once Democrats took control of Congress in January.

“They will have hearings & trials,” Massie wrote.

Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House, also criticized Hegseth on Thursday. In a social media post, he questioned why Hegseth was still in his job.

Impeachment in the House requires only a simple majority. However, removing a Cabinet member from office would then require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, a much higher threshold.

Hegseth used much of the video to defend his record. He highlighted his dismissal of senior Pentagon leaders, the end of diversity programs across the military, and his ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces.

He also defended the war with Iran, which voters appeared to punish Republicans for at the polls this week. He described it as a “courageous and historic” effort that would ensure Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon.

Finally, he made a direct appeal to Congress for additional funding.

Hegseth urged what he called patriotic lawmakers to pass a funding request to help the Pentagon pay for the Iran war and other priorities. The administration is seeking a defense spending package worth about $1.5 trillion.

He said that, whatever people think of the war, the country needs to keep rebuilding its military, as Trump did in his first term.

That request faces a tough road. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said on election night that Hegseth’s strained relations with lawmakers were hurting the administration’s push for the package. Tillis said Hegseth has “a reckoning” coming.

With only about 60 days left before the current Congress ends, lawmakers have little time to act on the request before Democrats take over.

Once they do, Democrats have promised to investigate how Hegseth has run the Pentagon. Congressional aides say that would include his firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He could also face questions over his policy on Ukraine and over United States military strikes on suspected drug boats in Latin American waters. Some Democrats say those strikes could amount to war crimes.

Representative Adam Smith, the Democrat expected to lead the House Armed Services Committee next year, has promised rigorous oversight. He said the review would examine everything from the war with Iran to what he described as the erosion of the military’s nonpolitical foundations.

The Pentagon has said Hegseth is “100 percent committed” to remaining in his post until the end of Trump’s term in January 2029.