Hegseth launches fight against impeachment bid

WASHINGTON:

With a vote on his impeachment looming next week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is digging in his heels and vowing to stay at his Pentagon post for the rest of the Trump administration.

He has reassured his allies that he is not angling for Marsha Blackburn's Tennessee seat in a Senate that will now be controlled by Democrats, Pentagon officials said.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has been a polarising figure who has made enemies even within his own Republican Party.

Republican Represen­tative Thomas Massie promised to reintroduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth next week, warning that

impeachment would

be "much gentler"

than what's in store for him once Republicans cede control of

Congress next year to Democrats. "They'll have hearings & trials," Massie wrote on X.

Critics in Congress are targeting Hegseth's conduct of the Iran war, which Vice President JD Vance has said cost Republicans control of Congress, his firing of top military officers and strained relations with lawmakers as the administration seeks a $1.5 trillion defence spending package.

Democrats, who won control of Congress in Tuesday's elections, have promised to investigate Hegseth and his handling of the Pentagon, and congressional aides say that would include the firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among other issues.

Hegseth defended his stewardship of the Pentagon in a more than four-minute video that boasted about firing senior Pentagon leaders, ending diversity initiatives and banning transgender individuals from the military.

"You see, they attack me - they attack us - because we are effective. It's not going to work. We will not back down," Hegseth said to the camera.

Calling the impeachment effort a "sham," Hegseth said that Trump himself was impeached twice.