Furious Republicans set to impeach Hegseth

 Defense Secretary "Pistol" Pete Hegseth, shown in May.AP

"We just heard from the voters, and … they’re not happy.”

by Emily Singer

Daily Kos Staff 

 

As reality sets in for House Republicans after their pummeling in the midterms, anger at President Donald Trump for putting them in this position is spilling out into public view.

Multiple Republican lawmakers now want heads to roll, chiefly that of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom they say is as much responsible for their party’s bruising losses as Trump, thanks to Hegseth’s handling of the disastrous war in Iran.

Outgoing Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky reintroduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth on Monday, when lawmakers returned to Capitol Hill for the first legislative work day since Sept. 16. It was on that day that House Speaker Mike Johnson sent the chamber home in order to avoid having to vote on Hegseth’s impeachment, though he framed the early exit from Capitol Hill on his members’ need to campaign for the Nov. 3 elections, which saw Republicans lose over 40 House seats.

Massie’s articles of impeachment accuse Hegseth of committing the high crime of waging war without congressional approval, as well as over his extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean Sea, his efforts to suppress free speech, and his kidnapping former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Multiple House Republicans have expressed openness to supporting Hegseth’s impeachment, including Reps. James Comer of Kentucky and French Hill or Arkansas, both of whom say the war in Iran was not handled well.

“I want to hear the debate on it,” Hill said Sunday morning on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added that Trump also “has to take responsibility” for the war, and said that if Hegseth is “not conducting his mission in the right way, then the president ought to make a change there.”

As for Comer, he said impeachment has to be done the right way but that there is a lot of anger among the GOP ranks about how Hegseth has conducted himself.

“There’s a lot of discomfort with the effort in Iran,” Comer told Fox News. “I think that if the secretary of defense will come out quickly and address those, I think that every Republican should be solid in that. Now, having said that, that doesn’t mean we want to continue down the same path in Iran. … We just heard from the voters, and … they’re not happy.”

Indeed, Politico reported that House GOP leadership expects the articles of impeachment will pass. The party already has a miniscule majority and expects that a number of Republican lawmakers simply won’t return to Capitol Hill after last Tuesday’s ass-kicking.

What’s more, a handful of Senate Republicans are suggesting they’d support convicting Hegseth in an impeachment trial if the evidence is there. That includes outgoing GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the latter of whom says confirming Hegseth to the job is the biggest regret of his Senate career.

“.@PeteHegseth, cabinet secretaries shouldn’t be wasting taxpayer dollars on campaign style videos. [Former Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem learned that the hard way,” Tillis wrote in a post on X, responding to a video Hegseth posted defending his tenure at the Defense Department. “This is about you: the incompetence you’ve displayed, the bad advice you’ve given to president, and your shameful and embar[r]assing episodes from firing our top generals to texting war plans to reporters.”

Testosterone Pete with a man whose testosterone has been known to run wild.  Before he lost his faculties, that is.  Of course, there is still Natalie Harp.