Hegseth calls Massie impeachment bid an attack on troops

Courtney McBride and Roxana Tiron, Bloomberg News on Nov 10, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mounted a combative defense against the impeachment effort against him in Congress, casting the move as a politicized attack on U.S. troops and lawful military operations ordered by President Donald Trump.

“I was proud to execute” Trump’s orders, he said, “and I would do it again.”

Hegseth ran through the Trump administration’s military actions in the Mideast and the Western Hemisphere and said the impeachment drive was an effort to disrespect the troops.

“Make no mistake about what is happening, this is not about me.,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon news conference, adding the impeachment drive was an attempt “to do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it.”

Hegseth was responding on the day the House is scheduled to begin procedural votes on an impeachment resolution that Republican Representative Thomas Massie introduced on Monday — and one week after the GOP lost the midterm elections, largely because of the conflict in Iran.

“This is not patriotism, this is sabotage,” Hegseth said.

The news conference was Hegseth’s first since May, when he largely stopped updating the media about developments in the Iran war as the conflict dragged on. In previous conflicts, top Defense Department officials held routine, if not daily, briefings for reporters.

Massie’s motion accuses Hegseth of waging Trump’s war against Iran without proper congressional authorization, conducting extrajudicial killings with attacks on alleged drug boats, and ignoring laws designed to minimize civilian casualties including an attack on an Iranian elementary school that killed more than 156 people, mostly children.

He also accused Hegseth of illegally kidnapping Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, which Massie called “an act of war against a sovereign country executed under the guise of narcotics law enforcement, though in actuality intended to assert U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil reserves.”

Hegseth said Tuesday that the message delivered by Maduro’s arrest was, “This is our hemisphere. Act accordingly.”

Trump in a social media post immediately after the news conference said “Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS.” On Monday, Trump signaled that he would not short-circuit the impeachment effort by dismissing the defense secretary, as some — including Republicans — have called for him to do.

Democrats, who take over the House and the Senate in January, have also said they will investigate Hegseth and potential conflicts of interest in defense procurement.

In his comments, Hegseth said the Pentagon has a good relationship with Congress despite a “misconstrued” perception that “we’re somehow disengaged from Capitol Hill.”

Yet Hegseth has had a fraught relationship with Congress, attracting bipartisan criticism for a lack of communication.

His relationship with Congress has only gotten worse after combative congressional hearings throughout the course of the Iran war, with lawmakers accusing him and the department of refusing to share information about the costs and direction of the conflict.

Hegseth has also fired dozens of generals and admirals with little explanation and announced he would live-stream an execution by firing squad — drawing criticism from members of his own party — before Trump rejected the plan.

On Tuesday, Hegseth repeatedly tried to make the specific impeachment effort over his leadership and tactics — including retaliating against sitting Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a retired naval officer, for telling troops not to follow illegal orders — about broader military policy, and about the troops, rather than himself.

“Let’s be clear about what this resolution actually does. It tells our enemies — Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching — that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations,” Hegseth said at the briefing.

—With assistance from Jen Judson.