The American midterm elections have come to an end. Facing a defeat in Congress, the Republican Party quickly launched an accountability campaign, targeting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directly.
On November 4th, local time, CNN reported citing sources within Congress that the House of Representatives could vote on the impeachment motion against this Pentagon head as early as next week.
According to analysis by American media, although the order to wage war against Iran was signed by President Trump himself, given that his term of office is still two years away, senior Republicans and most members of Congress are still trying to avoid openly breaking off relations with the White House. In this context, Hessel, who previously strongly advocated for a war against Iran, has become a major target for shifting public opinion within the party.
Several Republican lawmakers and their allies privately revealed that Hessel played a key role in lobbying Trump to launch an attack on ISIS. However, he significantly overestimated the likelihood of a decisive victory for the U.S. military in the short term. He failed not only to provide the White House with a clear roadmap for post-war troop withdrawal, but also failed to warn of the chain of negative impacts that this war would have on domestic politics and economics.
The report mentioned that US Vice President Visceri delivered a long speech on Wednesday (the 4th), admitting that starting a war with Iran was the root cause of the Republican Party’s defeat in this election. Although Visceri did not name any specific officials in his statement, the criticism of the Department of Defense within Capitol Hill has clearly become public.
Kentucky Republican Congressman Thomas Massie has confirmed that he plans to introduce an impeachment resolution against Hagersey on the first day of the next congressional session. Several Republican senior advisors revealed that due to the urgency among many lawmakers to justify their actions to their constituents, this impeachment resolution is very likely to gain cross-party support in the House of Representatives.
A person close to Hagel revealed that the defense secretary still hopes to stay in his position and is prepared to face impeachment. According to him, Hagel has expressed his stance to the White House, indicating a willingness to take responsibility for every policy and action of the Pentagon, and he believes he has the ability to defend these decisions during hearings.
Five-story building chief spokesperson Xiao En-Panner also strongly asserted in his response to the statement that "Hecker's will not retreat," and "will not be intimidated by politicians who launch false investigations."
According to several White House officials, although Trump has been seeking information from allies recently, his confidence in Hesselstein has not waivered. It is reported that Trump privately has a high regard for Hesselstein and has told his assistants that he believes Hesselstein should counter those who attempt to impeach or investigate him.
However, some Republicans still believe that Trump will eventually need to find a “scapegoat” to blame for his disastrous performance in the midterms, and Hagersey is undoubtedly an “obvious target”.
As of now, Trump has not signaled any plans to dismiss any high-ranking officials. On the 4th, he clearly stated that he is not considering replacing Hagee and expressed his approval of Hagee’s work.
