Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told CBS News Face the Nation on Sunday that removing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth would be “my priority number one if we retake the majority.”
“Our service members actually deserve competent, serious, real leadership that will protect them and do the right thing,” Crow said. “And they currently don’t have that.”
When host Margaret Brennan read from a DNI memo saying Iran has “substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel,” Crow responded: “Iran remains a danger. Pete Hegseth remains incompetent and is not doing what’s necessary to protect our service members which is why he’s my priority number one if we retake the majority, to make sure we oust him from the Pentagon.”
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky also wants Hegseth out of the Pentagon. On October 15, he posted: “Trump should fire Hegseth to avoid Hegseth’s impeachment. It’s the honorable thing to do. The House recessed early to avoid the vote, so I will reintroduce Hegseth articles of impeachment when we return for the lame duck session, regardless of the outcome of the midterm election.”
On Monday, Massie posted a reporter’s question about whether he’ll refile when Congress returns. His answer: “If he’s still SecDef.”
Massie filed eight articles on September 15 over the Iran war, the boat strikes in the Caribbean and the renaming of the Defense Department, which the Trump administration, without congressional approval, now calls the Department of War.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent the House home the next day, September 16, as PBS reported. Johnson called the impeachment push “a stunt” and said, “Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job at the Department of War.”
Massie answered Johnson: “We’re calling off Congress? And we’re in the majority?”
The Pentagon is also pressing Congress on the name. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell posted Monday: “The President has acted. Now Congress must finish the job and enshrine the Department of War name in law.”