War Secretary Pete Hegseth, facing eight articles of impeachment in a privileged House resolution, remains defiant amid kinetic war and political warfare.
Hegseth said he stood behind military operations in Iran, Venezuela and Yemen, describing them as lawful.
"What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, it's not accountability. It's a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment," Hegseth said in a Tuesday morning conference. "Time for one man's final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president, this country and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it."
"It's a farce, and it's a stunt, and everybody knows it."
TRUMP DEFENDS PENTAGON CHIEF AS MASSIE TARGETS HIM: 'HEGSETH SHOULD BE PRAISED, NOT IMPEACHED'
President Donald Trump gave a real-time review of Hegseth's remarks in a post Tuesday morning on Truth Social.
"Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!" Trump wrote.
TRUMP GIVES HEGSETH AN ‘A PLUS, PLUS, PLUS’ FOR REJECTION OF WEAPONIZED IMPEACHMENT
"We destroyed terror regimes' capabilities. We sank the boats carrying poison into our communities. We put a narco dictator in handcuffs. These are not high crimes. This is the job, and it's the job well done."
"I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow," he added.
Hegseth said the impeachment effort hands U.S. enemies a "propaganda victory."
"This is not patriotism; this is sabotage. It tells our enemies that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations," Hegseth added.
HEGSETH IMPEACHMENT VOTE LOOMS AS HOUSE REPUBLICANS PRIVATELY WARN IT COULD PASS
Impeachment has been one-sided against Trump, he noted, saying past presidents have been immune amid war efforts.
"No secretary of war or secretary of defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations and, in our case, successful ones at that," Hegseth said. "Not once – war powers resolution or not."
"Not under Reagan in Lebanon, not under Clinton in Kosovo, not under Obama in Iraq and Syria, not under Biden in Iraq and Syria. That's the standard. The history is clear, and it's very straightforward. And one disgruntled congressman wants to shred it over policy disagreements."
"That's what it is: Policy disagreements," he continued. "Not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause.
"The proper remedy for a policy disagreement: It's legislation; it's debate; it's the next presidential election. It's not handing the House and Senate floor to the Democrats so that they can run a show trial against the president and the secretary of war."
REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK: HOW MIDTERMS MAY CHANGE THE HOUSE IMPEACHMENT EQUATION FOR HEGSETH
Asked about Vance blaming Republican midterm losses on the Iran war, Hegseth said he agreed with the war.
"It was done for the right reasons to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon," the war secretary said.
Speaking at a G7 summit in France, Secretary of State Marco Rubio weighed in on the impeachment effort.
"The president of United States is the commander in chief, and he has a right to defend this country and to address imminent threats that pose a threat to the United States – and he's done so," Rubio told a Paris press gaggle minutes after the Hegseth news conference. "I don't know how anyone could argue that drug dealers trying to import poison into our country is not an imminent threat. It's a real and imminent threat, and it's been addressed."
Trump defended Hegseth against Massie's impeachment effort in a Truth Social post Monday night, too, saying his war secretary "should be praised, not impeached."
"Defeated Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a total loser, is trying to Impeach perhaps the most popular and successful military official in the Country, Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth," Trump declared Monday on Truth Social.
"With recruitment at an ALL-TIME HIGH, from an all-time low under Sleepy Joe Biden, and TWO VICTORIES, Venezuela and Iran, Pete Hegseth should be praised, not Impeached. Congress, stand up for Pete!!!" he added.
The post Hegseth rips impeachment push from outgoing Republican as 'farce,' 'stunt' appeared first on FOX News
