During a press conference, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has condemned impeachment efforts against him as “sabotage”.
“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt,” he said on Tuesday, calling criticism of him and the war on Iran “policy disagreements”.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced a resolution to impeach Hegseth on Monday over the war on Iran, strikes on purported drug boats and other alleged violations of US laws.
“This is not patriotism, this is sabotage,” Hegseth said on Tuesday.
In a post on Truth Social after Hegseth spoke, US President Donald Trump defended Hegseth and his statements, saying he “gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!”
The House is likely to take an initial vote on the impeachment effort Tuesday, a procedural vote on whether to debate the impeachment resolution.
Speaking at his first press conference at the Pentagon in nearly six months, Hegseth defended his role in military actions ordered by President Trump.
Hegseth compared military losses under his tenure with other historic conflicts, saying some 60,000 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War, and 37,000 in the Korean War, while only 18 had been lost during the US-Israeli war against Iran.
He addressed several of the issues raised in the impeachment resolution against him, including the lawfulness of strikes on alleged drug boats and the abduction of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The strikes on purported drug boats, Hegseth said, had been necessary to protect the US against narcotraffickers, and each strike had saved “thousands of American lives”. Maduro, the former president of Venezuela, Hegseth said, “was not kidnapped; he was brought to justice”.
“I stand behind every one of these operations. I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow,” Hegseth said.
