UPDATED: Pete Hegseth held a rare press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday to address a looming impeachment threat and to lavish praise on the person whose support he needs the most, President Donald Trump.
The press conference lasted just 30 minutes, and he primarily called on favored outlets on the right, including Real America’s Voice and One America News Network, while offering some criticism of the media coverage of the war in Iran.
On Monday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, including for launching a war with Iran without congressional authorization and for extrajudicial killings with the lethal targeting of suspected drug traffickers.
The defense secretary told reporters that the impeachment articles were an extraordinary response to what he said was a policy disagreement. Hegseth also defended the conduct of the war and said, “The media can never just admit the military success, because they, you, hate the president more than you love our country.”
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Hegseth said that the impeachment “tells our enemies — Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching — that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations.
“It tells them that a single rogue legislator, loaded with personal animus toward the president, can veto national security decisions made by the duly elected commander in chief. It puts a target on the backs of warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time. This is not patriotism. This is sabotage.”
In one of the questions from reporters, Hegseth was asked about Vice President JD Vance’s X post in which he put blame on the party’s devastating midterm losses on the war in Iran. Hegseth was one of the administration’s biggest champions of launching a military campaign against the country.
Hegseth said, “I respect the vice president greatly, and I’m certainly not going to exchange any finger pointing. And thankfully, politics is not really my thing.” He said that Vance was “a critical member of the team in every aspect of this.”
Hegseth, the former Fox News host, seemingly has the support of Trump, who on Monday told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that he would stand by his defense secretary even if he is impeached. If that happens, it would be up to the Senate to hold a trial and take a 2/3 vote to remove him. A procedural vote on the House floor may be held later on Tuesday.
Trump posted on Truth Social after Hegseth press conference, “Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER! President DJT”
During his tenure, Hegseth has imposed new press restrictions on reporters at the Pentagon, including a policy that tries to limit their reporting under threat of losing their credentials. Last year, most of the Pentagon press corps refused to sign on, and vacated their regular spaces at the complex.
