American Defense Secretary Peter Hegedes delivered a video speech on November 5th, vowing to counter the impeachment proceedings against him in Congress, and defended the war against Iran as a “brave and historic” action.
Hagel’s remarks were posted on social media just as opposition in Congress was intensifying their ridicule of him. When asked whether he might fire Hagel, Trump avoided answering the question. Trump had once praised this head of the Pentagon.
The Democratic leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, asked in a post: “Why is Pete Hagese still here?”
Hegthis was a former Fox News anchor and has always been a highly controversial figure, even gaining many enemies within his own Republican party. Critics in Congress are focusing on his actions during the war with Iran—VP JD Vance stated that this war had caused the Republicans to lose control of Congress—as well as his dismissal of senior officers and his strained relationship with lawmakers.
In the mid-term elections on the 3rd, Democrats who gained control of the congressional power pledged to “investigate Haggess and his management of the Pentagon”. Congressional officials said that the investigation will cover issues such as the dismissal of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie promised to reintroduce the impeachment charges against Hagersey next week, and warned that if the Republicans hand control of Congress over to Democrats next year, the impeachment process would be much less severe than what he had faced. “They will have hearings and trials,” Massie wrote on X.
In a video that lasts more than four minutes, Hagee defended his actions at the Pentagon, mentioning his decisions to fire senior Pentagon leaders, terminate diversity initiatives, and ban transgender individuals from serving in the military.
"Look, they're attacking us because we have made significant progress. This won't succeed. We will not retreat." Hargaseis said to the camera.
He referred to the efforts to impeach Trump as a “scam”, and said that Trump himself had been impeached twice: “This is nothing but a personal destruction politics move. It has no effect on President Trump, nor on me. You can rest assured.”
On the 5th, when asked if there would be any personnel changes, Trump praised Hagel, saying that his defense secretary was doing an "excellent job," and hinted that the opposition to Hagel was related to his dismissal of the general.
"We once had so many generals. Each one was a four-star general. I've never seen anything like this before. Many of them were 'Awakening faction' members. I don't like the Awakening faction generals, so he might have opponents." Trump said to the press in the oval office.
Trump also praised Hagee for his role in the US military operations in Venezuela and Iran: “Venezuela is incredible... In Iran, we have been there for seven months, and we have control over everything we wanted to control.”
According to sources, as the Republican Party evaluates its electoral losses, Trump may still replace Haggis.
On the 4th, Vice President JD Vance publicly questioned whether the war against Iran was worth it, stating that this war had deprived the Republican Party of control over Congress. This unusual statement raised questions about whether Trump would still carry out his threat to resume large-scale military operations against Iran. A Trump advisor said that due to the war in Iran, Hagee “may be in a precarious situation”.
