Hegseth, Facing an Impeachment Resolution, Books His First Press Conference in More Than 180 Days
The defense secretary told reporters Monday he is eager to litigate the Iran and Venezuela decisions — and announced a Tuesday press conference, his first in over six months, as Rep. Thomas Massie's resolution moves over House GOP leadership's objections.
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is taking his defense to the podium. Facing an expected impeachment resolution in Congress, Hegseth said Monday he is eager to litigate the policy choices that he and President Donald Trump have made in Iran and Venezuela, the Associated Press reported — and he announced that he will hold a press conference on Tuesday, his first in over 180 days, on the looming impeachment threat. "If you want to take issue with what we did in Epic Fury or Rough Rider or nabbing Nicolás Maduro, you're taking issue with the troops and what they accomplished, which is historic," Hegseth told reporters Monday.
The resolution is not leadership's idea. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie has pushed the impeachment resolution forward over the objections of House GOP leadership, AP reported, as momentum grows to hold Hegseth accountable for the Iran war — a war many Republicans blame for the party's midterm election wipeout. Hegseth argued Monday that starting the war was a "bold move" by Trump: "The choice was don't act and wish it away or take a bold move, which the president did with Midnight Hammer, which we've done with Epic Fury," he said, referring to the code names for the strike on Iranian nuclear facilities and the larger war.
The politics underneath are measurable. The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 voters in the United States, found about 6 in 10 said the U.S. made the "wrong decision" in taking military action against Iran — even though only about one-third of voters said the war was "crucial" to shaping how they voted for Congress, well below the roughly half who said that about the cost of living or government corruption. That gap — an unpopular war that was not most voters' top issue — is the ground Tuesday's press conference will be fought on: a defense secretary who has not faced the press corps in over six months, choosing now to do it with an impeachment resolution on the table. The desk will carry Tuesday's press conference and the resolution's next step as they happen.
