Washington: US President Donald Trump on Monday defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth amid growing calls for his impeachment, arguing that Hegseth should not be targeted over recent military operations against Iran.
“Pete Hegseth won two wars. ‘Oh, let’s impeach him!’ What about impeaching the people that ran the Vietnam War? What about impeaching those that ran Iraq and Afghanistan, and all of these other wars where thousands of lives have been lost. We lost 18 people. 18. They lost 65,000 in Vietnam. We’re in there for seven months, they’re in there for 21 years,” Trump told reporters.
Questioning the motives behind the impeachment resolution, Trump added, “What about impeaching those people? What about impeaching the leaders of the stupid wars that were done when nothing was gained?”
Trump also launched a sharp attack on Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who introduced the impeachment articles in the House, accusing him of repeatedly obstructing party legislation and wasting congressional time.
“He’s a loser. He shouldn’t be taking up the time of Congress or the Senate,” Trump said.
“We could come up with the best bill we could come up with, and he would always vote against. There’s something wrong with him,” the President remarked.
The confrontation follows Massie’s move on Monday to file articles of impeachment accusing Hegseth of abusing executive power and issuing “unlawful orders to initiate war” with Iran.
Under House rules, lawmakers must take up a procedural vote on Massie’s resolution by Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced that he would hold a press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday morning to address the House push to impeach him, Fox News reported.
It will be Hegseth’s first press conference since May 5.
The announcement came after remarks at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, where Hegseth dismissed impeachment concerns and defended President Trump’s handling of the Iran war, Fox News reported.
Earlier in the day, Trump also pushed back against mounting congressional calls to impeach Hegseth, questioning why an official instrumental to the military campaign against Iran should face removal from office.
Defending the administration’s military intervention, Trump asserted that US strikes had successfully dismantled Iranian nuclear infrastructure while preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear capabilities.
“We saved Israel and the Middle East. There would be no Israel even if we had not saved them from Iran,” Trump said.
Rejecting the impeachment initiative, he added, “And what are we going to do with one of the guys that was most responsible for the war, we want to impeach him.”
Trump’s defence followed statements from House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries endorsing moves to impeach Hegseth. Critics have accused the Secretary of War of abusing administrative authority, compromising national security and coordinating the conflict with Iran.
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