House Speaker Mike Johnson defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Tuesday and dismissed the impeachment effort against him, calling Rep. Thomas Massie “a disgruntled congressman” and the push a political gambit for attention.
“Thomas Massie is a disgruntled congressman, and the impeachment effort is a political gambit for attention,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. “I think Secretary Hegseth did an extraordinary job. […] I expect that we’re going to defeat that one way or the other, and we’ll get on with the business. The idea that you would impeach the Secretary of War at a time of international conflict sends a terrible message to our enemies and our allies, and we’re not going to play that game.”
“You don’t impeach a cabinet secretary lightly,” he added. “They had no due process. There’s nothing that went into this. This is just purely for people to get attention, and it’s shameful.”
Johnson was answering a reporter’s question about Hegseth’s press conference earlier on Tuesday, where Hegseth used the same “disgruntled” description of Massie. Massie filed eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth on Monday. On Tuesday evening, the House voted 211 to 204 to refer the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee instead of voting on the articles themselves.
The Judiciary Committee is chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a close ally of President Trump, and it has set no date to take up the resolution. Massie was the only Republican who voted against sending the resolution to the committee, and 18 members did not vote. Massie had read the eight articles on the House floor on Monday, most of them accusing Hegseth of waging war without approval from Congress. The articles also accuse Hegseth of ignoring laws meant to limit civilian casualties and of ordering strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea. At his own press conference on Tuesday, Hegseth called the effort “a farce and a stunt.”
Source: C-SPAN
