Vice President JD Vance has sprung to War Secretary Pete Hegseth‘s defense after outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced articles of impeachment against the former Fox News personality this week.
“Has Pete Hegseth committed impeachable crimes? The question is absurd and the answer is: obviously not,” Vance wrote on X on Tuesday.
Vance went on to contend that “impeachment has become a ridiculous show that stands in for actual policymaking.”
“Congress has so many tools for registering its policy disagreements,” he wrote. “Rather than use them, 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).”
Vance added, “The irony is that legislators are 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,” he concluded.
Last week, Vance blamed the GOP’s resounding midterm election losses on the Iran war, a sign he was attempting to distance himself from the unpopular conflict.
“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so,” Vance said while adding Trump agreed the war was to blame for the midterm losses.
Hegseth also defended himself earlier Tuesday, holding a rare press conference at the Pentagon to address the charges.
“What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, and it’s not accountability. It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” Hegseth told reporters. “It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt. And everybody knows it.”
Hegseth argued that impeachment “puts a target on the backs of American warriors” in missions “ordered by the commander in chief.”
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“It tells our enemies, Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching, that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations,” he said. “This is not patriotism. This is sabotage.”
The House is scheduled to take a procedural vote on Hegseth’s impeachment on Tuesday before the vote on Wednesday.