'This Is Sabotage': Pete Hegseth Rails Against Looming Impeachment Vote

09 Nov 2026, 16:46 by Tiago Ventura · TIME

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pushed back against efforts to impeach him in a defiant address Tuesday morning, a day after Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky reintroduced a resolution forcing the House to take up the issue within two legislative days.

"It puts a target on the backs of American warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time," Hegseth told reporters at the first Pentagon press conference since May. "This is not patriotism. This is sabotage."

Referring to the impeachment efforts as a "stunt," Hegseth criticized Massie, insisting: "It's a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment. Time for one man's final days in Congress to try to do damage to this President, this country, and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defended."

Massie's resolution includes eight articles of impeachment, accusing Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973, citing the lack of congressional oversight on the Iran war which Massie argues was “unlawful from its inception.” Another charge accuses Hegseth of “ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties.” Outside of the Iran conflict, the charges also allege the “kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader,” in reference to the U.S.’ capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in January—an act Massie says was carried out “without constitutional or legal authority.”

Dismissing the articles, Hegseth argued that "Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen, every one was a lawful operation ordered by the Commander in Chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress, and executed by American warriors who did their jobs."

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has vowed to "stand by" the embattled Defense Secretary if he is impeached. "Really, what has Hegseth done?" Trump said to reporters during a press conference late Monday afternoon. "We won two wars [Venezuela and Iran]. He was in charge." Trump added that U.S. soldiers "love" Hegseth and argued he's done "a very good job." The President previously said during a sit-down interview with CBS' 60 Minutes that he still has confidence in Hegseth and referred to efforts of impeachment as "very unfair."

A revived impeachment effort

Massie's push follows an earlier effort in September, when he sought to force a House vote on impeaching Hegseth. However, Speaker Mike Johnson recessed the House early, preventing the measure from reaching the floor.

Hegseth has repeatedly pushed back against the impeachment attempts. In a video posted to social media last week, he accused his critics of pursuing a politically-motivated campaign against him.

“A disgruntled, defeated Congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly, just like they tried against President Trump twice,” Hegseth said, referring to the two impeachments of Trump during his first term as President. “It’s all about the politics of personal destruction—didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me,” he vowed.

In a statement to TIME Monday morning, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Hegseth “will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points or launch phony investigations where no wrongdoing exists.”

He said that the Defense Department has “followed the law and our Secretary will continue to stand and fight every single day to support and defend the Constitution, lead our troops, and protect America” and added that Hegseth is “100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump’s term in office.”

TIME has also reached out to the White House for comment.

Top House Democrat supports push to impeach Hegseth

Massie, who lost the Republican primary in May to a challenger endorsed by Trump, already has the support of a number of Democrats, including Hakeem Jeffries, who is widely expected to be the next House Speaker come January.

During an appearance on ABC's This Week Sunday, Jeffries said: “I’m a hard 'yes' on the Hegseth resolution.”

Accusing Hegseth of abusing his position, Jeffries continued: “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.”

Jeffries follows in the footsteps of Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat in the House Armed Services Committee, and Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who have also pledged to back Massie’s impeachment efforts.

What happens if Hegseth is impeached?

It’s unclear exactly how this will affect the five-week lame-duck session, as government funding runs out after Dec. 11 and lawmakers still need to make a deal to avert a government shutdown.

Speaker Johnson has strongly opposed the effort, arguing that impeaching a Cabinet secretary "in the middle of hostilities abroad” would be “a terrible thing for our allies and our enemies to see.”

Per the U.S. Constitution, the House of Representatives has “the sole power of impeachment” and the Senate has the power to “try all impeachments.”
The impeachment effort has already garnered some support among Democrats in the House. The House will also have the opportunity to refer the impeachment resolution to a committee for investigation or offer a motion to table the resolution. If it is referred, the committee in question will conduct an investigation, hold hearings, and then report its recommendations to the full House.

If the House does end up approving the impeachment resolution in this manner, it will appoint managers to present and argue its case against the federal officer in front of the Senate.

Either way, the measure is unlikely to obtain the two-thirds majority needed to pass the current Senate, where Republicans still hold 53 out ⁠of 100 seats. Democrats will take control of both chambers in January.

If the impeachment efforts were to be successful, Hegseth would be the third Cabinet secretary in history to be impeached.

William Belknap, President Ulysses Grant's Secretary of War, was impeached in 1876. He was charged over "criminally disregarding his duty" and "basely prostituting his high office to his lust for private gain."

Almost 150 years later, House Republicans voted to impeach former President Joe Biden's Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024. Mayorkas was charged with failing to properly enforce the nation’s immigration laws and breaching public trust amid a highly-contentious surge in illegal immigration. The Senate, then controlled by the Democratic Party, voted to kill the impeachment articles.

The split over the Iran war

In the fallout of the midterm rout, the Republican Party appears to be split over the Iran war—and the extent of its impact on voters.

Vice President J.D. Vance said the day after the election that “the reason we lost is the war.” Trump, in his 60 Minutes interview that was filmed Friday and released Sunday, said he didn't disagree with Vance's analysis, but doubled down on the inception of the war. “The only thing I wish he would have said there, if he felt it, and you'd have to ask him about that, but, ‘If you had it to do again, would you do it?’” Trump said, before adding: “My answer is an emphatic 'yes.'”

The Iran war remains vastly unpopular with Americans. A midterm exit poll showed that 74% of voters thought the Iran war was a crucial or major factor when casting their ballot. The conflict is estimated to have cost American taxpayers around $47.1 billion so far. The financial fallout of the war has added to the cost-of-living pressures facing many Americans, with soaring diesel prices proving to be a key concern among voters.

Democrats have long argued for more congressional overview regarding the Iran war. Some Republicans, including Massie and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, have also questioned the boundaries of the presidential war powers.

In a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in July, Murkowski questioned Hegseth as to why Congress hadn’t been asked for authorization. Hegseth, in response, acknowledged the “long-standing legal debate on this particular topic” but insisted that the Department of Defense shares “the position of the White House, that we have all the authorities necessary at this moment.”