President Donald Trump’s Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has responded defiantly to an impeachment effort led by a fellow Republican that could soon put his position at risk.
Speaking to reporters, Hegseth said he was not intimidated by the push now taking shape on Capitol Hill.
“If you want to litigate our success, I’m happy to do it all day long,” he said when asked about the campaign against him.
He has also scheduled an emergency press briefing for tomorrow, where he is expected to expand on his defense. The appearance will come after Hegseth went more than six months without holding a formal media availability.
The House of Representatives, operating as a lame-duck chamber, is expected to vote this week on whether to impeach Hegseth. The vote was forced by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie.
Massie went to the House floor to read a 34-page impeachment resolution outlining his case against the Pentagon chief.
The resolution accuses Hegseth of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” including allegedly kidnapping a foreign leader and disregarding laws intended to reduce civilian casualties.
The Kentucky Republican, who has frequently opposed Trump, also criticized Hegseth for imposing sweeping limits on media access at the Pentagon.
So far, no Democrat has publicly indicated that they will oppose Massie’s resolution to impeach Hegseth.
Massie is seeking a vote this week—likely Wednesday—when lawmakers return to Washington after a midterm election that delivered devastating losses for Republicans.
The central question is whether those Republican losses will encourage additional members of the party to support the measure.
President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth faces an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives this week
Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie has introduced a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in connection with the US conflict with Iran
Democrats hold 214 seats in the House, meaning they would need only three Republicans to join them for the impeachment resolution to pass. Massie is already committed, leaving two additional Republicans needed.
Hegseth has dismissed Massie as “a disgruntled, defeated congressman” and accused him of filing “sham articles of impeachment.”
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But there are indications that Hegseth’s Republican support may be less secure than it first appeared.
Kentucky Republican James Comer, a prominent Trump ally and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said the votes needed to impeach Hegseth could exist in the House this week. However, Comer stopped short of saying how he would vote.
“We really didn’t know how to message what the exit strategy was, because I don’t think anybody in Congress knows what the exit strategy is,” Comer told Newsmax before discussing the possible impeachment vote.
Arkansas Republican French Hill, whose deep-red district returned him to Congress by just 4,405 votes last week, told CBS News that he wanted to hear the arguments before deciding whether impeachment was justified.
“I want to hear the debate on it to see if it merits impeachment versus some other disciplinary action or action by the president if he’s not getting the job done in leading the Department of War. That’s the issue,” Hill told CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on Sunday.
“If he’s not conducting his mission in the right way, then the president ought to make a change there.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become the next Speaker of the House, has offered full support for Massie’s resolution.
“I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,” Jeffries told ABC’s This Week anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday.
“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,” the senior House Democrat said. He added: “Pete Hegseth has got to go.”
Massie has accused Hegseth of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” by continuing military operations in Iran even though Congress has never formally declared a conflict in the region.
By introducing a privileged resolution, Massie used a parliamentary procedure that can bring the issue directly to a vote while bypassing the normal committee process.
He relied on a similar tactic last year to force a House vote on releasing the Epstein Files, resisting pressure from Republican leaders who wanted to end his transparency campaign. Massie has said he would abandon the impeachment effort only if Hegseth resigns.
The House needs a simple majority to approve an impeachment resolution. Any Senate conviction following a trial would require support from two-thirds of the chamber.
Trump has continued to stand behind his Pentagon chief. In a 60 Minutes interview broadcast by CBS News on Sunday, the president said he remained confident in Hegseth.
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