War Secretary Pete Hegseth cut off a reporter at the Pentagon on Tuesday who shouted a question asking whether losses in the Iran war were his fault.
Hegseth closed his opening remarks with a prayer before taking questions. As he called on one journalist, another reporter shouted out, asking whether the Iran war losses were his fault.
“Excuse me,” Hegseth said, raising his hand to stop her and moving on.
The briefing was Hegseth’s first Pentagon news conference since May, despite months of U.S. military operations in Iran, Yemen and Latin America. The Iran conflict began more than eight months ago.
The press conference came a day after outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., filed eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, citing high crimes and misdemeanors. Among other charges, Massie accuses Hegseth of replacing maritime law enforcement with unauthorized lethal strikes on suspected drug traffickers that the articles say killed at least 221 people, and of directing Operation Absolute Resolve to seize Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, without constitutional or legal authority.
Hegseth called Massie a “rogue legislator” during the briefing.
He was also asked about Vice President JD Vance’s claim that the Iran war was a major reason Republicans lost the midterms. Hegseth declined to say whether he agreed, instead defending the conflict as a necessary operation to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Republicans suffered sweeping losses last week as Democrats seized control of both chambers of Congress, with voters frustrated over the war and soaring prices.
President Trump has stood firmly behind Hegseth. Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at a White House press conference Monday whether he would stand by his War Secretary, Trump said he would.
The night before the briefing, Hegseth brushed off questions about whether he had enough Republican votes to survive impeachment, telling reporters, “We’re not worried about that.”
Massie, appearing on CNN after filing the articles, predicted Hegseth would be gone before the end of the year.
The House is expected to vote on the articles as soon as Tuesday evening or Wednesday. Because the measure was filed as privileged, GOP leaders are required to bring it to the floor within two legislative days.
