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'Sends msg that US will punish its own warriors': Hegseth on bid to impeach him

By · Via Times of India · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Pete Hegseth directly addressed congressional efforts to initiate impeachment proceedings against him during a press event. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he defended his service record and overall leadership performance. He argued that removing him from office would set a harmful precedent by signaling the nation penalizes its service personnel.

Key points

  • The defense secretary publicly rejected congressional efforts aimed at his removal from o…: The defense secretary publicly rejected congressional efforts aimed at his removal from office.
  • Pete Hegseth characterized the removal effort as a negative signal toward American milita…: Pete Hegseth characterized the removal effort as a negative signal toward American military personnel.
  • Scrutiny continues to mount over the official's administrative tenure and defense record.: Scrutiny continues to mount over the official's administrative tenure and defense record.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

US secretary of war

Pete Hegseth, facing calls for his impeachment following the Republicans' poor performance in the midterm elections, which has been blamed on the Iran war, held a press conference on Tuesday (local time) to defend his record.

The briefing came a day after President Donald Trump

backed Hegseth, saying that he had led the US to victory in "two wars" — referring to the Iran war and the US military intervention in Venezuela in January, which resulted in the removal of Nicolas Maduro.

The press conference was the Pentagon chief's first in six months and came a day after Republican US Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced eight articles of impeachment against him.

He described the impeachment efforts as sending a message to Washington's adversaries that the US would punish its own military personnel and political leadership for carrying out "lawful operations."

"Impeachment tells our enemies that the US will punish its own warriors and leadership for carrying out lawful military operations," Hegseth told reporters.

"In the 250 years of our American republic, no secretary of war…

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