Vance Says Hegseth Impeachment Push Is ‘Absurd’ and Not About Iran
Vice President JD Vance says the bid to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is “absurd,” arguing it targets Pentagon bureaucracy rather than the Iran war, hours before a House vote.
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Writing on X on Tuesday, hours before a scheduled House vote, Vice President JD Vance said lawmakers were turning impeachment into a substitute for legislation.
“Has Pete Hegseth committed impeachable crimes? The question is absurd and the answer is: obviously not.”
Vance wrote that impeachment had become “a ridiculous show that stands in for actual policymaking,” and that Congress already had tools to register policy disagreements. Rather than use them, he said, “they’re going to try to impeach Pete Hegseth. They did the same to Donald Trump. Legislation is hard. Impeachments are easy (and ultimately, inconsequential).”
House Vote on Eight Articles
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky on Monday reintroduced a privileged resolution containing eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, focused largely on the war with Iran.
CBS News reported that the House was set to vote at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday on whether to advance the articles. House Republican leaders have vowed to defeat the measure, though attendance among outgoing members could affect the result.
The articles accuse Hegseth of launching and continuing hostilities against Iran without congressional authorization, dismantling civilian-casualty safeguards, ordering lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats, retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly, capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and conducting unauthorized strikes in Yemen.
Massie has argued the question is legal rather than military. Democrats are expected to support the resolution in large numbers. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become speaker in January, has said he is a “hard yes,” adding that “Pete Hegseth has got to go.”
Vance Points to the Pentagon, Not Iran
Vance said legislators were “most angry at Pete on the issues where he’s most correct: repositioning forces away from Europe/Ukraine and reorganizing the general officer corps.”
“This isn’t about Iran, this is about the fact that Pete took on the bureaucracy at the Pentagon.”
The argument sits alongside remarks Vance made a day after last week’s midterm elections, when he said “the reason we lost is the war.”
At a Pentagon news conference earlier Tuesday, Hegseth rejected the impeachment bid and said he would carry out the same operations again. Asked about Vance’s comments blaming the Iran war for Republican losses, Hegseth said he respected the vice president and would not “exchange any finger pointing,” adding that “politics is not really my thing.”
A report published Tuesday said Hegseth’s office had used internet searches to withhold already-selected senior officer promotions, a practice officials said disproportionately affected women and officers of color.
President Donald Trump has separately defended Hegseth, calling the impeachment effort unfair.
Kamer Kurunç
Kamer Kurunç is the Team Leader of Clash Report and has led the outlet for four years. He oversees its breaking world news coverage, from the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war to defense and global politics. His focus is fast, verified, source-based reporting. Follow him on X at @kamerknc.
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