Pete Hegseth begins press conference as he faces impeachment vote: ‘It’s a political spectacle’
Pete Hegseth has started his Pentagon press conference.
He took the podium and immediately blasted Thomas Massie’s articles of impeachment against him, that the outgoing Republican introduced on Monday.
“What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, and it’s not accountability,” Hegseth said.
“It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment. 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.”
Key events
Johnson slams Hegseth impeachment effort as a ‘political gambit for attention’
Mike Johnson, who is in his final weeks as House Speaker, before he becomes a member of the minority party in Congress, said that Thomas Massie –the outgoing Republican who is spearheading the impeachment effort against Pete Hegseth – is a “disgruntled congressman”.
Johnson called the move to impeach the defense secretary “a political gambit for attention”, and commended Hegseth’s performance at his press conference earlier today, where he blasted the attempt to remove him from office.
“I thought he did very well. I expect that we’re going to defeat that one way or the other, and we’ll get on with the business. The idea that you would impeach the Secretary of War at a time of international conflict sends a terrible message to our enemies and our allies, and we’re not going to play that game,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing that went into this. This is just purely for people to get attention, and it’s shameful.”
Republicans hold leadership elections ahead of losing control of Congress in new year
Republican lawmakers in the House will hold leadership elections today, ahead of the GOP becoming the minority in the new Congress.
In the House, current Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not run for minority leader, setting up a contest between Representative Steve Scalise (who serves as majority leader) and Congressman Jim Jordan, a hardline conservative.
Speaking to reporters, the outgoing moderate Don Bacon said that it is time for a new leader of the party to step forward. “Mike Johnson is my friend, but it was: ‘Hey, the president and I are in the same party. I want to help deliver his agenda’. I think the founders wanted this to be more of a check and balance,” Bacon added.
Meanwhile, in the Senate, members are discussing the possibility of postponing their leadership elections in order to further discuss the fallout after the Republican bruising in the midterm elections. On Monday, Senator Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, sent a letter to party leadership calling to delay the vote. As of now, there is no clear challenger to Senator John Thune, who currently serves as majority leader.
Ted Cruz: ‘Hegseth will step down voluntarily, or Trump will fire him’
Republican Senator Ted Cruz said that the impeachment effort against Pete Hegseth will either mean the defense secretary will “step down voluntarily, or Trump will fire him”.
On an episode of his podcast, Cruz said that it was “extremely likely, if not certain,” that the House will vote to impeach Hegseth.
Today, the House is poised to vote on a procedural motion on Pete Hegseth’s impeachment later today.
As I flagged earlier, that means lower chamber lawmakers will vote on whether to refer Thomas Massie’s resolution to committee for further investigation, or table the measure entirely. If they don’t get enough votes (a simple majority) for either of these options, it will then go to the House floor for a full vote.
If the House were to successfully impeach Hegseth, it will then head to the Senate –where the upper chamber would need 67 votes in order to remove the defense secretary from his position.
Dan Milmo
Nvidia and its chief executive, Jensen Huang, have been accused of misleading shareholders in a lawsuit over the Chinese spying scandal engulfing the $4.3tn company.
The legal action came as Donald Trump said the FBI was investigating Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy.
According to a complaint filed in federal court in California, Nvidia and Huang misled shareholders in connection with the executive’s alleged affair with Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore-based Megaspeed, who is not related to him.
The lawsuit claims both parties did not disclose that the matter raised national security concerns that threatened the chipmaker’s reputation and business prospects.
The New York Times reported on the alleged relationship last month, and said US authorities had concluded Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset.
Nvidia described its executive’s interaction with Alice Huang as “not unusual or unexpected” in a comment submitted to the New York Times last month, adding that “meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year”.
On Sunday, Huang admitted he had been “unfaithful” to his wife, without identifying the person involved in the affair.
The lawsuit claims the NYT statement was “materially false and misleading at the time it was made because Jensen Huang had an affair with Alice Huang.”
Donald Trump is in Washington today.
As of now, the president has no events open to the press on his schedule. While he’ll spend most of the day in closed-door meetings, he’ll take part in signing time at 3.30pm ET, and we’ll let you know if that opens up to reporters.
Following Pete Hegseth’s press conference, Donald Trump issued a brief, and glowing, assessment of his defense secretary’s performance, while blasting the Republican representative who is moving to impeach him.
“Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!” the president wrote on Truth Social.
One quick note –since Thomas Massie introduced his articles of impeachment on Monday, the House now has until Wednesday to take them up.
The lower chamber can hold a vote on the House floor, decide to send the resolution to committee (for further investigation) or table the measure entirely.
A vote could come as soon as today. We’ll keep you updated.
Hegseth says Iran war was a ‘necessary undertaking’ despite Republicans blaming conflict for midterms defeat
After several Republicans, including vice-president JD Vance, said that the party’s shellacking in the midterm elections was due to the ongoing Iran war and spike in prices as a result of the conflict, Hegseth danced around whether he agreed.
“I respect the vice-president greatly, and I’m certainly not going to exchange in any finger pointing. And thankfully, politics is not really my thing,” the defense secretary said. “But I agree with what the president said when he said: ‘hey, if if I had to do this all over again, would we do it again? Absolutely.”
Hegseth referred back to secretary of state Marco Rubio’s sentiment that the war, now in its eighth month, is “not necessarily popular, but it may have been necessary”.
“That’s certainly how I feel. It was a necessary undertaking,” Hegseth added.
A point that Hegseth has repeated throughout his briefing is that Thomas Massie’s resolution is merely a “policy disagreement” that defense secretary said should be solved by legislation and debate.
Hegseth also used his time today to disparage the media for ignoring military successes. “You hate the president more than you love our country, or our troops,” he told reporters at the Pentagon.