WASHINGTON — War Secretary Pete Hegseth launched a blistering attack Tuesday on Rep. Thomas Massie, denouncing the Kentucky Republican’s effort to impeach him as an act of “sabotage.”
Hegseth, who made the unprecedented decision to campaign against Massie’s reelection bid earlier this year while serving as the nation’s top military official, maintained that he had done nothing that warranted becoming only the third Cabinet official in US history to face impeachment. “This is not patriotism. This is sabotage,” he said.
Hegseth warned that a successful impeachment effort would allow “a single rogue legislator, loaded with personal animus for the president,” to challenge national security decisions made by the duly elected commander in chief.
The secretary argued that impeachment should not be used to settle policy disputes, saying lawmakers who oppose his decisions should seek to change them through legislation instead.
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Hegseth’s first news conference since May came after Republicans suffered significant losses in last week’s midterm elections — setbacks some Democrats and critics have linked to the economic fallout from the US war against Iran.
“History will judge the Iran war quite differently than conventional wisdom,” Hegseth said. “[Trump] did not kick the can; he kicked their teeth in.”
Regardless of what happens to Massie’s impeachment resolution, which could come up for a vote later Tuesday, Democrats are expected to revive efforts to remove Hegseth if he remains in office when the new Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3.
