President Donald Trump told reporters at Monday's impromptu White House briefing that he will stand by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth even if the House impeaches him — hours after Rep. Thomas Massie filed the eight articles of impeachment on the House floor.
Asked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins whether he would stand by Hegseth if he is impeached, the President answered: “Yeah, I'll stand by him. He won two wars. He was in charge; we all won.” He then turned on Massie and on the network asking the question: “Massie is a loser — just like you're a loser at CNN.”
The answer came at the same surprise briefing at which the President gave an update on Iran and brought UFC chief Dana White to the podium. It is the second time in two days the President has used the same line in Hegseth's defence — on Sunday night he called the impeachment effort “very unfair” and said Hegseth is “guilty of two things: basically winning two wars.” Hegseth and the Pentagon had issued no response to the President's remarks by Monday night, and the Secretary holds his first press conference in over 180 days on Tuesday.
The fight now moves to the House floor with the Commander-in-Chief publicly in the Secretary's corner: the privileged resolution must be taken up within two legislative days, by Wednesday at the latest, and every member will have to vote on the record.
Monday, November 9, 2026
Rep. Thomas Massie wants to bag a win by tearing his own base down. On Monday afternoon the Kentucky Republican filed his privileged resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and read the eight articles on the House floor — a filing that forces the House to act within two legislative days, putting a vote on Wednesday at the latest.
Because the resolution is privileged, House leaders cannot park it the way Speaker Mike Johnson did in September, when he recessed the House early and Massie's first attempt never reached the floor. This time the chamber must take it up. And the vote is not the formality some expected: several Republican lawmakers privately warn the impeachment could very well pass.
The articles charge Hegseth with violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973 by waging the Iran war without congressional authorisation, with ignoring laws meant to minimise civilian casualties, and with the "kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader" — Massie's term for the January capture of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. Massie announced he would hold a press conference at the House Triangle immediately after the reading.
Massie has already answered colleagues who say Hegseth has been effective and they agree with the war, so they will vote not to impeach: "That's not the question though. The question is whether he committed impeachable acts, and the answer is yes." President Trump is standing behind his Secretary — on Sunday night he called the impeachment effort "very unfair" and said Hegseth is "guilty of two things: basically winning two wars." Hegseth himself is taking the fight public, with his first press conference in over 180 days set for Tuesday.
Massie lost his Republican primary in May to a challenger President Trump endorsed, and he is using his remaining weeks in the lame-duck session to force his own party to vote on removing a Secretary most of them support. For Republican voters, the cost lands at home: a party that just lost the midterms is spending its final weeks in power fighting itself in public, instead of the work it was elected to do — and Wednesday's vote will show, by name, where every member stands.
act.
📰 ProfiloPolitics Member News — choose your news, share it, earn credit:
https://white-curlew-963569.hostingersite.com
Never miss a story — Join our Telegram channel
Breaking U.S. political news, live as it happens — plus the stories the big outlets sit on.
Join ProfiloPolitics on Telegram