Trump Defends Pete Hegseth Sunday Night, Saying the Defense Secretary Is "Guilty of Two Things, Basically Winning Two Wars," as Republican Rep. Thomas Massie Moves to Force a House Vote This Week on Eight Articles of Impeachment — Stupid People Hate Winners
Monday, November 9, 2026
President Trump is standing behind his Defense Secretary, and he is not mincing words. Asked about the impeachment drive against Pete Hegseth on Sunday night, Trump put it this way: "He's guilty of two things: basically winning two wars" — the operations in Venezuela and Iran — "It's awfully hard to say, 'Let's impeach somebody who did that.'" He had already told 60 Minutes he still has confidence in Hegseth and that the impeachment effort is "very unfair." The defense lands as Congress returns Monday for a five-week lame-duck session after the midterm rout, with a Republican congressman — not a Democrat — leading the charge to remove the Secretary.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie is preparing to reintroduce a privileged resolution carrying eight articles of impeachment. The charges, as Massie frames them: violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973 by waging the Iran war without congressional oversight — a war Massie argues was "unlawful from its inception"; ignoring laws meant to minimize civilian casualties; and the "kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader," his term for the January capture of Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, which Massie says was carried out "without constitutional or legal authority." Because the resolution is privileged, the House must take it up within two legislative days of filing. Massie tried this in September; Speaker Mike Johnson recessed the House early and it never reached the floor. On Monday Massie conceded some members say Hegseth "has been effective and they agree with the war, so they'll vote not to impeach" — but insisted: "That's not the question though. The question is whether he committed impeachable acts, and the answer is yes." Massie lost his Republican primary in May to a challenger Trump endorsed.
Hegseth is answering in his own words. In a video posted to social media he said: "A disgruntled, defeated Congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly, just like they tried against President Trump twice." "It's all about the politics of personal destruction — didn't work against President Trump, and it won't work with me," he said. His chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, added Monday that Hegseth "will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points or launch phony investigations where no wrongdoing exists," that the Department "has followed the law," and that Hegseth is "100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump's term in office." The Democrats backing Massie include Hakeem Jeffries — widely expected to be the next Speaker in January — who said Sunday: "I'm a hard 'yes' on the Hegseth resolution," accusing Hegseth of abusing his position and engineering "this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran."
What this means: the vote, when Massie files, forces every member of the House on the record within two legislative days — in the middle of a lame-duck session that also has to fund the government before money runs out after December 11. Underneath it is the oldest fight in Washington: who decides when America goes to war. Trump's answer is on the table — a secretary who delivered two military victories should not be removed by the Congress that never voted on either war. For the troops Hegseth leads and the families watching at home, the question is whether results in the field count for more than process in Washington. The President has made his position plain, and the headline writes itself: stupid people hate winners.
act.
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