Republicans Turn on Hegseth After the Rout. Massie Says He Will Force an Impeachment Vote Next Week

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said he will force a House vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth when Congress returns next week, and multiple Republican sources expect it to pass, CNN reported in a story published by WCVB.

Many Republican lawmakers and allies are blaming Hegseth for Tuesday's losses, arguing privately that he played a chief role in persuading President Trump to attack Iran without an exit strategy, according to the report. Republicans who spoke on condition of anonymity said Hegseth oversold how quickly the war could be won and kept pushing escalation.

Vance and the war

Vice President JD Vance issued a statement Wednesday saying "the reason we lost is the war," though he did not assign blame, CNN reported. Party strategists privately acknowledged problems went beyond the war, but most Republicans remain unwilling to blame Trump directly.

Trump and the Pentagon respond

Trump defended the war Wednesday and denied plans to fire Hegseth, saying he was "doing a very good job." "If I had it to do again, I'd have to do it again," Trump said of going to war. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said Democrats pursuing "sham investigations" would be "choosing to work against the American people."

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth "will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points" and is "100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump's term."

Massie's case

"You don't screw up this badly an election with just one issue," Massie told CNN. "It was completely avoidable if they'd just broken out of the cultish following of Donald Trump."

Additional reporting

And the House could vote as soon as next week to impeach the Pentagon’s top leader. Many Republican lawmakers and allies alarmed by Tuesday’s wipeout are moving swiftly to pin blame for the election results on Hegseth, arguing behind the scenes that he played a chief role in convincing Trump to attack Iran with no exit strategy — and no plan for managing the inevitable political fallout.

The knives-out campaign comes despite private acknowledgement from House and Senate GOP strategists that the party’s problems extended far beyond the war, triggering 2008-level losses that will take years to reverse. But for now, party leaders – and many in their ranks – remain unwilling to directly blame Trump for their woes.

Even among House Republicans who survived Tuesday’s onslaught, there’s zero expectation they will suddenly break from the president with two years left in his term. Yet that fealty does not extend to Hegseth, the combative defense secretary who has made few friends on Capitol Hill since taking over command of the Pentagon.

House Republicans are expected to vote to directly repudiate the defense secretary in a matter of days. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, the famously anti-Trump GOP lawmaker, told CNN he plans to trigger a vote to impeach Hegseth when Congress returns next week — and multiple GOP sources said they expect it to pass.

Hegseth, a vocal cheerleader for the war, oversold the U.S.’ ability to win the conflict quickly and easily, multiple Republicans argued to CNN, describing on condition of anonymity why many in their party are now turning against the defense secretary. They accused him of continuing to advocate for escalation despite little sign that continued bombing has brought Iran closer to surrender.

The conflict has since turned into a quagmire, they said, entangling the U.S. in the Middle East indefinitely, worsening the affordability crisis, and triggering voters’ midterm revolt against the GOP. On Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance issued an extraordinary statement that “the reason we lost is the war,” though he did not assign any specific blame for the conflict.

Trump may also feel an additional need to keep Hegseth around if he chooses to move forward with additional strikes against Iran, another source familiar with his thinking told CNN, especially with Democrats’ new majority in the Senate likely to complicate any administration efforts to confirm new Cabinet appointees.

The White House also decried the prospect of Democratic investigations into the Pentagon, with spokeswoman Lauren Bis arguing in a statement that “if Democrats choose to pursue sham investigations and radical left policies, they are choosing to work against the American people.” But some Republicans feel it may be only a matter of time before Trump looks for someone to blame for the midterm losses, and they view Hegseth as an obvious target.

“If the president is serious about anyone taking responsibility for it, it’s Pete Hegseth,” one Republican close to the White House said of the electoral thrashing. “Pete has been either dishonest or incorrect — neither of which are acceptable — about timelines, goals and objectives since the beginning.”

Trump has not yet signaled plans to fire any top officials. But in the aftermath of the GOP’s midterm drubbing, allies and advisers widely expect him to eventually oversee some level of changes within the administration. Within Trump’s orbit, some have seized on Hegseth’s likely impeachment as additional justification for making him the fall guy in the wake of an embarrassing rebuke of Trump’s presidency — contending that he’s bound to become a central target of Democrats’ ire over the war anyway.

What is still unknown

The articles' text and the timing of a floor vote had not been released. An impeachment by the House would require a Senate trial to remove him.