Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denounced the impeachment effort against him as “a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment.” He spoke at a Pentagon news conference one day after Rep. Thomas Massie began proceedings targeting Hegseth over his handling of the unpopular war with Iran and other actions.
Massie, a Kentucky Republican, read the impeachment resolution on the House floor just hours after lawmakers returned for their first session following the midterm elections.
At the same time, the Senate moved forward Monday with bipartisan legislation designed to accelerate permitting for power plants, data centers and other major infrastructure projects. Senators voted 73-25 to begin formally considering the measure, which lawmakers and President Donald Trump have promoted as a response to surging electricity demand and yearslong delays in connecting new energy sources to the grid.
Here’s the latest:
Thune reaches Capitol before leadership vote
Senate Majority Leader John Thune arrived on Capitol Hill ahead of a gathering of Senate Republicans, who are expected to decide whether to postpone leadership elections or back him for another term in the next Congress.
When reporters asked how he felt as he entered his office, Thune replied, “We’ll see.”
Inflation exceeds expectations, highlighting ongoing affordability pressures
U.S. inflation came in above forecasts last month, suggesting that the elevated prices that helped drive major Democratic gains in last week’s midterm elections will remain a challenge for the White House and the Federal Reserve.
The consumer price index climbed 0.4% from September to October, according to the Labor Department, slowing from a 0.6% increase the month before. The government did not publish an annual inflation figure because last year’s shutdown prevented the release of October 2025 data.
Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.3%, matching the previous month’s increase. Both the overall and core readings were 0.1 percentage point above economists’ projections.
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Defiant Hegseth wraps up Pentagon news conference
Hegseth ended the news conference after answering six questions.
Speaking from the Pentagon podium, the defense secretary adopted a forceful tone and called the impeachment effort “sabotage” against U.S. service members. He maintained that he had committed no wrongdoing and said he had the backing of Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Hegseth also sidestepped questions about the political reaction to the war in last week’s midterm elections.
“I stand behind every one of these operations. I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow,” Hegseth said.
He argued that the impeachment effort “puts a target on the backs of American warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time. This is not patriotism. This is sabotage.”
Trump praised Hegseth in a social media post published minutes after the briefing ended.
“Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!” Trump wrote.
Hegseth portrays impeachment push as an attack on troops
Hegseth sought to frame the impeachment effort as a direct assault on the U.S. military.
“On the eve of Veterans Day,” Hegseth said, “these resolutions tell every one of them that their service was a crime.”
“These are heroes, and no politician in Washington will tell them otherwise while I hold this office,” he continued. “If they want to come for the warriors, they’re going to have to come through me.”
Hegseth calls impeachment bid a ‘political spectacle’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth condemned the effort to impeach him as “a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment.”
He made the remarks at the opening of a morning Pentagon news conference, his first in six months. The appearance came a day after Rep. Thomas Massie launched an impeachment drive focused on Hegseth’s handling of the unpopular war with Iran and other conduct.
Hegseth argued that Massie’s accusations did not meet the constitutional standard for impeachment. He described them as “policy disagreements, not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause.”
“The proper remedy for a policy disagreement,” he said, “is legislation, it’s debate, it’s the next presidential election.”
Trump says FBI is examining Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s relationship with alleged Chinese agent
Trump said Monday that the FBI is investigating Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese government agent, while insisting he did not believe the artificial intelligence executive had reason to be concerned.
“I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he’ll be in good shape,” Trump said during a White House briefing.
The disclosure about Huang’s affair has sent ripples through Washington and the technology industry, raising fresh questions about whether Beijing gained access to Nvidia’s advanced chips, which are central to the development of artificial intelligence.
Trump’s public comments suggested an unusual level of personal involvement in a counterintelligence inquiry, underscoring his relationship with Huang and the potential geopolitical consequences.
Huang has acknowledged the affair and apologized to his wife and Nvidia in an open letter posted on the company’s website. The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence officials concluded the woman was collecting information for Beijing.
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Thune and Schumer confront leadership questions after midterm results
Senators from both parties returned to Washington Monday facing uncertainty over their leadership after last week’s election handed Democrats a significantly larger majority.
Republicans, who are set to lose roughly one-quarter of their conference through election defeats and retirements, are weighing whether to promptly reelect South Dakota Sen. John Thune in a vote scheduled for Tuesday. Democrats, who could control as many as 56 seats next year, are privately discussing whether New York Sen. Chuck Schumer remains the best choice to lead them, despite his role in the party’s historic victories.
Both leaders are expected to secure majority support in closed-door, secret-ballot contests — Republicans this week and Democrats likely in December. Still, the debates could shape how effectively each party operates in the next Congress and how voters view them ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
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Senate moves forward with broad energy bill after midterm elections
The Senate advanced bipartisan legislation Monday to streamline permitting for data centers and other energy-intensive infrastructure, marking its first major action since last week’s election dealt a sharp rebuke to Trump and congressional Republicans.
Lawmakers voted 73-25 to begin formally considering the bill, which senators and the president say is needed to address rising electricity demand and the yearslong waits facing new power projects seeking access to the grid.
The measure would significantly reduce the time required to launch large energy projects, including both renewable and fossil-fuel developments, while requiring data centers to cover the cost of the power they consume. Public frustration over AI data centers and higher electricity bills helped fuel Democratic campaigns promising tougher oversight of the massive, energy-intensive facilities.
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Hegseth prepares for first Pentagon briefing since May amid impeachment threat
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was scheduled to hold his first Pentagon news conference in six months Tuesday, one day after a Republican lawmaker launched an impeachment effort over Hegseth’s handling of the unpopular war with Iran and other actions.
The briefing marked Hegseth’s first since May, even as the U.S. military continued intermittent operations against Iran and carried out deadly strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in Latin America.
Hegseth had said the impeachment threat would be central to the news conference. He was preparing for a public fight after mounting a social media campaign and vowing to defend his actions — as well as Trump’s — against what he called politically motivated opponents.
Rep. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, filed the impeachment resolution in the House on Monday. The move set up a potentially dramatic vote on whether to remove a prominent Trump administration official after Republicans suffered sweeping losses in last week’s midterm elections, results many observers partly attributed to the Iran conflict and its economic consequences.
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