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Republicans turn on Hegseth after midterm rout as Massie readies impeachment vote
Republicans stung by Tuesday's midterm losses are blaming Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for steering President Trump into the Iran war without an exit strategy, and Rep. Thomas Massie says he will force a House impeachment vote next week that GOP sources expect to pass, CNN reported. Trump has ruled out firing Hegseth, who vows to fight, while The Wall Street Journal reports he is still urging the president to keep the war going.
Republicans reeling from Tuesday's midterm losses are turning their anger on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, blaming him for helping push President Donald Trump into the war with Iran without an exit strategy or a plan for the political fallout, CNN reported on Wednesday. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, told the network he will force a House vote on impeaching Hegseth when Congress returns next week, and multiple GOP sources said they expect it to pass.
The backlash comes a day after Democrats captured both chambers of Congress in an election many Republicans now openly tie to the war, which the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28 and which has driven up energy prices. Vice President JD Vance put it bluntly on Wednesday: "The reason we lost is the war."
'The pivot is starting'
Vance did not single anyone out, but others in the party did. "If the president is serious about anyone taking responsibility for it, it's Pete Hegseth," one Republican close to the White House told CNN, adding that Hegseth had been "either dishonest or incorrect" about the war's timelines, goals and objectives. A former senior Pentagon official put it more simply: "The pivot is starting."
Massie, who lost his May primary to a Trump-backed challenger and leaves Congress in January, argued the defeat was self-inflicted. "You don't screw up this badly an election with just one issue," he told CNN, calling the result "completely avoidable if they'd just broken out of the cultish following of Donald Trump."
A hawk in a divided war cabinet
Behind closed doors, Hegseth is still pressing to keep fighting. According to The Wall Street Journal, the defense secretary has been urging Trump to continue the Iran war, putting him at odds with Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who favor peace talks. Some White House advisers blame Hegseth for convincing the president that the conflict would be a short military operation, much like the January raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Trump himself has credited Hegseth with making the early case for war. At a roundtable in Memphis in March, he told him: "Pete, I think you were the first one to speak up and you said let's do it because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon." Vance, a longtime skeptic of foreign interventions, was by Trump's own account less enthusiastic.
A second try at a first-of-its-kind impeachment
Massie first filed impeachment articles against Hegseth in mid-September, making him the first member of Congress to try to impeach a Cabinet secretary from his own party. The 34-page resolution contains eight articles: three accuse Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution over Iran, while the others cite civilian casualties, extrajudicial killings, retaliation against Sen. Mark Kelly, the seizure of Maduro and operations in Yemen. Speaker Mike Johnson, who dismissed the effort as "a publicity stunt," sent the House home early for the campaign recess, pushing any vote past the election.
In late October, Massie wrote on X that "Trump should fire Hegseth to avoid Hegseth's impeachment. It's the honorable thing to do." Asked whether he would reintroduce the articles once lawmakers returned, he replied: "If he's still SecDef."
The vote will take place in the outgoing House, where Republicans keep a slim majority until the new Democratic-led Congress is sworn in in January. Impeachment requires only a simple majority, so if Democrats vote as a bloc, a handful of GOP defections would be enough. "There are Republicans who would support impeaching Hegseth who might not support doing it to Trump," Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told TIME. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has vowed to run Hegseth "out of town." Even if the House acts, removal would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate.
Trump: 'He's doing a very good job'
For now, Trump is standing by his Pentagon chief. Asked on Wednesday whether he planned to remove Hegseth, he said: "No, I think he's doing a very good job." White House officials told CNN the president has urged Hegseth to fight any impeachment or investigations, and one quoted Trump as telling him, "You're my best guy."
Hegseth, through Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, said he "will not back down" and is "100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump's term." Still, CBS News reported that Trump has asked advisers whether Hegseth should stay, and a Trump adviser told Reuters he "could be on the chopping block." "Someone is going to get blamed for this," the adviser said, "and you know it's not going to be him."
Photos: Clash Report (archive)
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