Pete Hegseth Is About to Get His Ass Kicked

It's been one week since Election Day, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing a different kind of war. Trump administration officials tell Inner Loop they knew the defense secretary would face a slew of investigations in the next Congress. Now, they think he is on track to be Democrats' number one target—and Democrats are already planning to make their case as airtight as possible.

"Hegseth is now a passenger in whatever comes next," says one source close to President Donald Trump. "And all the outcomes are potentially damaging." House Democratic aides tell Inner Loop that Democrats are likely to pursue an impeachment inquiry against Hegseth, and also work to narrow the charges against him to issues that Senate Republicans have also complained about, in an effort to attract their support.

Hegseth, who has championed the deeply unpopular and costly Iran war, has spent much of his controversial tenure upending various internal processes at the Defense Department, including firing generals and blocking promotions using criteria that disproportionately affected women and people of color. He has also become known for his notorious role in Signalgate and for military strikes against purported drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean.

Republican Opposition

Some of those topics have previously been the subject of complaints from Republicans. The Senate Armed Services Committee chair Roger Wicker criticized Hegseth for the flag officer cuts and once reportedly threatened to block a Trump nominee unless the Pentagon handed over documents. Last night, House Republicans managed to table an impeachment effort targeting Hegseth that was brought about by Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky.

Massie, among other issues, accused Hegseth of waging the Iran war without approval from Congress and directing "extrajudicial killings." But even though the effort failed, officials privately believe it is practically inevitable that Hegseth will be impeached again and face a Senate trial next year.

Senate Trial Prospects

Trump officials tell Inner Loop they still don't expect Democrats to get enough GOP support to remove Hegseth—but they can't shield him from wall-to-wall coverage of a trial. The impeachment articles brought by Massie were seen by some Republicans as overly broad, which made officials think they could spare Hegseth an impeachment trial by having Senate majority leader John Thune dismiss all the charges in a straight-line vote.

But with Democrats taking over the Senate next year, that option is off the table. Hegseth's biggest Republican detractors are all leaving Congress at the end of the year. Maine senator Susan Collins, North Carolina senator Thom Tillis, and Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy all lost reelection this midterm cycle, while Iowa senator Joni Ernst and Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell are stepping down after finishing their terms.

But even with his biggest detractors set to retire, at least five other Republican senators have complained about Hegseth's performance—getting Democrats closer to the 67 votes needed to convict—like Wicker, South Dakota senator Mike Rounds, Kentucky senator Rand Paul, Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski, and Indiana senator Todd Young.

Hegseth's Defense

Hegseth, for what it's worth, doesn't seem to want to go anywhere without a fight. In a televised appearance at the Pentagon earlier this week, Hegseth responded to a question about Vice President JD Vance blaming the Republican midterm losses on Iran, and said Vance was a "critical member of the team" and the war effort.

Hegseth then added, "I agree with what the president said, when he said 'Hey, if I had to do this all over again, would we do it again? Absolutely.'" This is why the focus of the Democratic impeachment inquiry is going to have to be specific, and geared to Republican interests, so as to be unassailable.