War Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the conflict with Iran, the extraction of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, strikes on alleged narcoterrorist vessels, and other actions he has taken as leader of the U.S. military from Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R-KY) impeachment effort in a press conference Tuesday morning.
With his parents and his brother seated in the audience among public affairs staffers and journalists in the Pentagon’s briefing room, Hegseth called Massie a “disgruntled and defeated congressman” and argued that his impeachment resolution “is not oversight, and it’s not accountability.”
“It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” Hegseth said.
Arguing that the outgoing Kentucky congressman’s effort is due to his own “personal animus” for President Donald Trump and his administration, the secretary went on to call the resolution “a farce — and it’s a stunt, and everybody knows it.”
Massie reintroduced his resolution with eight impeachment articles on Monday. The allegations listed against Hegseth include violations of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, free speech suppression, extrajudicial killings, and the “kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader” — referring to Maduro.
According to Massie, Hegseth suppressed free speech when he “retaliate[d] against and intimidate[d] Senator Mark Kelly” for 2025 statements the Department of War claims were “seditious” in which Kelly encouraged service members to disobey lawful orders.
House Republican leadership must bring the articles up for a floor vote within two legislative days “because Massie filed the measure as privileged under House rules,” NBC News reported. Republicans could kill Massie’s resolution, which he originally introduced in September, with a majority vote.
In his remarks to reporters, Hegseth also framed the impeachment effort as an attack on military service members who participated in the attacks on alleged drug traffickers in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, which were the target of Massie’s “extrajudicial killings” accusation.
“None of these are high crimes or misdemeanors,” Hegseth said. “They’re partisan policy disagreements from people who want to politicize our military.”
Likening the attempt to remove him from office to Trump’s own impeachments, he stated, “If standing with President Trump puts me in that company, I’ll take that company every day of the week.”
When asked about Vice President JD Vance’s stated belief that Republicans lost in the midterms due to the war with Iran, Hegseth said he would not “engage in any finger-pointing” before highlighting Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s opinion instead:
“The vice president has been a critical member of the team in every aspect of this […],” Hegseth said, and highlighted his great respect for Vance. “As Marco Rubio said I think quite well, it is not necessarily popular, but it may have been necessary and that’s certainly how I feel. It was a necessary undertaking.”
Hegseth received top marks from the president after the briefing wrapped up, with Trump writing on Truth Social, “Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!”
Trump had already defended Hegseth on Monday, telling reporters that he would stand by his defense secretary should the impeachment go through.
“What has Hegseth done?” the president said. “Pete Hegseth won two wars. ‘Oh, let’s impeach him,’” he mocked.
Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.
