Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who intends to file new articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, wrote Thursday: “If Trump’s going to replace appointees like Hegseth, he should do it while he can still get the replacements confirmed in the Senate.”
Massie noted that his impeachment resolution “is a much gentler version of what’s coming” once Democrats control both houses of Congress. “They’ll have hearings & trials.”
Massie said Wednesday that he will bring his articles of impeachment back when the House returns next week. “There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns.”
[NOTE: After Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth in September, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) canceled the House’s last voting day before the midterms and no vote was held.]
CNN reported Thursday that several unnamed Republicans expect the measure to pass this time. Massie told CNN the party’s losses had more than one cause. “You don’t screw up this badly an election with just one issue,” he said. “It was completely avoidable if they’d just broken out of the cultish following of Donald Trump.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told CBS News on Wednesday: “Pete Hegseth has a reckoning.” He said Hegseth is “one of the reasons why we don’t have the funding or guarantee for defense that we need,” and that “after the election, we need to determine whether or not he’s the best person to bring those needs to Congress.”
Democrats are also calling for Hegseth’s removal. Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), a former Army Ranger on the Armed Services Committee, told CBS News that Hegseth “needs to go.”
“He’s incompetent,” Crow said. “Every day that he’s in the Pentagon… is a day that our service members, our men and women, our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters are at greater risk.”
When asked by reporters on Wednesday if he’s considering firing Hegseth, President Trump said, “No, I think he’s doing a very good job.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that Hegseth “is 100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump’s term in office,” and that “Secretary Hegseth will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points.”