Vice President JD Vance defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as he is facing impeachment efforts from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), stating that “impeachment has become a ridiculous show that stands in for actual policymaking.”
In a post on X, Vance stated that the question as to whether Hegseth has committed impeachable crimes is “absurd.” Vance’s post came after Hegseth “defended the conflict with Iran” and “the extraction of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro,” as Massie has launched an impeachment effort against him.
Hegseth described it as a “political spectacle.”
“Has Pete Hegseth committed impeachable crimes?” Vance asked. “The question is absurd and the answer is: obviously not. Like so much of Congress, impeachment has become a ridiculous show that stands in for actual policymaking.”
Vance continued to note that Congress has tools that allow lawmakers to register policy disagreements.
“Rather than use them, they’re going to try to impeach Pete Hegseth,” Vance continued. “They did the same to Donald Trump. Legislation is hard. Impeachments are easy (and ultimately, inconsequential).”
“The irony is that legislators are most angry at Pete on the issues where he’s most correct: repositioning forces away from Europe/Ukraine and reorganizing the general officer corps,” Vance continued. “This isn’t about Iran, this is about the fact that Pete took on the bureaucracy at the Pentagon.”
Democrats, such as Rep.-elect Brad Lander (D-NY), have come out in favor of impeaching Trump cabinet officials such as Hegseth, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and FBI Director Kash Patel.
During an interview on ABC News, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) stated he was a “hard yes” on impeaching Hegseth.
“I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,” Jeffries said. “The so-called secretary of defense has abused his power, undermined our national security, and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed prices on the American people and made the country less safe.”
