Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who faces a likely congressional impeachment effort in the coming weeks, released a video message on Thursday defending his tenure and vowing to fight for his job. Hegseth said, standing in front of the Pentagon and a sign that read “Department of War,” his preferred name for the agency. Some prominent G.O.P. lawmakers, frustrated with Mr.
Hegseth’s handling of the Iran war and his purge of top generals, had been pushing for President Trump to replace him even before the rout of Republicans in the midterm elections. Those calls have only grown in the days since. In remarks from the Oval Office on Thursday, Mr.
Trump backed his defense secretary, saying he was doing a “fantastic job.” Mr. Trump also defended the war in Iran, which Vice President JD Vance has cited as a driving force behind the midterm election wipeout. Trump said, adding that “nobody has been killed in a long time.” The Iranians “shoot a rocket every once in a while,” he claimed.
Hegseth struck a similar tone in his video message, describing the war as “a courageous and historic effort that will ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.” Most of his recorded message was focused on the battles he had been fighting to purge the military of senior officers and ideas that he and Mr. Trump find objectionable. Hegseth talked about banning transgender soldiers from the military and kicking reporters out of the Pentagon.
He also defended the military’s attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific that the Trump administration has said were smuggling drugs. Experts on the use of lethal force have said that the strikes are illegal extrajudicial killings. Trump’s defense are unlikely to quell calls for his impeachment or his dismissal.
Representative Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado and a former Army Ranger, mocked Mr. Crow wrote on social media. Better start packing up your make-up room at the Pentagon.
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