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Embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth lashed out at the Kentucky congressman spearheading an effort to remove him as he delivered a 16-minute diatribe in his own defense at a rare Pentagon news conference on Tuesday.
Speaking in the Pentagon briefing room for the first time in months, Hegseth disparaged Representative Thomas Massie as a “disgruntled and defeated congressman” as he opened remarks that appeared to be at least partially written by an artificial intelligence model.
He also compared himself to other Pentagon bosses who were not impeached despite carrying out military operations absent an explicit declaration of war from Congress.
“Not under Reagan in Lebanon. Not under Clinton in Kosovo. Not under Obama in Iraq and Syria. Not under Biden in Iraq and Syria. That's the standard. The history is clear, and it's very straightforward, and one disgruntled congressman wants to shred it over policy disagreements,” he said.
He also cast Massie’s effort as an attack on service members, telling reporters “If they want to come for the warriors, they're going to have to come through me.”
The impeachment resolution at issue alleges that the self-styled “Secretary of War”
