This Is Not Patriotism. This Is Sabotage,’ US Defence Secretary Hegseth Fights Impeachment Push Over Iran War
‘This Is Not Patriotism. This Is Sabotage,’ US Defence Secretary Hegseth Fights Impeachment Push Over Iran War
He described the impeachment effort as an attack on American service members that undermines US forces “in real time.”
United States Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, has vowed to fight efforts in Congress to impeach him, insisting that the move is driven by “policy disagreements” and not the high crimes or misdemeanours the nation’s founders had in mind.
Hegseth spoke on Tuesday at his first Pentagon press briefing in six months, as he hit back at a resolution filed by outgoing Republican Congressman Thomas Massie over his handling of the unpopular war against Iran and other military actions, the Associated Press reports.
“In the 250 years of our American republic, no Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations,” Hegseth said.
He described the impeachment effort as an attack on American service members that undermines US forces “in real time.” According to him, “This is not patriotism. This is sabotage.”
Hegseth added that the move sends a message to Iran, drug cartels and other adversaries that Washington would punish its own troops and civilian leadership for successfully carrying out lawful operations.
Massie, a Kentucky lawmaker who lost his party primary to a Trump-backed challenger, filed the resolution in the House of Representatives on Monday. It centres largely on the Iran war but also cites Hegseth’s role in military action against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and operations in Venezuela. Massie said the actions amount to “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
The US Constitution does not define what amounts to “high crimes and misdemeanors,” leaving lawmakers to decide what counts as an impeachable offence.
A House vote could come by midweek. It would put pressure on Republicans, many of whom blamed their heavy losses in last week’s midterm elections partly on the Iran conflict and its economic fallout. What happens next remains highly uncertain.
President Donald Trump has stood by Hegseth, citing the January raid that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and operations against Iran, which he claims have “obliterated” its navy and air force.
However, Iran has continued to strike US bases in the Middle East and disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the more-than-eight-month conflict, pushing up global oil prices. Trump told reporters on Monday that the war “militarily is effectively over,” and repeated his claim that Iran “would love to make a deal.”
Hegseth also defended his record on Monday after a speech at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, saying critics’ real quarrel was “with success.” He said he was ready to “litigate” the administration’s military actions “all day long.”
Last week, he released a video describing the impeachment push as “the politics of personal destruction” and vowed it “won’t work” on him. Scores of Pentagon political appointees later shared images of him with the slogan, “Stand. Fight. Defend the Republic.”
Pentagon chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said in a statement that despite “threats of sham witch hunts from Democrats,” Hegseth is “100% committed” to leading the department until the end of Trump’s term.
