Hegseth Rejects Leaving Post Over Iran War Fallout: ‘Courageous and Historic’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he won’t resign over the fallout of the Iran war’s impact in the midterms, considering it has emerged as the main culprit of the Republican party’s rout.
In a lengthy video posted on social media, Hegseth said “they attack me, they attack us, because we’re effective.”
“It’s not going to work, we will not back down,” Hegseth added, calling impeachment efforts against him a “sham.”
“It’s all about the politics of personal destruction. It didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that,” he added.
Hegseth has emerged as one of the main officials targeted for the electoral results, where the GOP sustained a historic defeat and lost control of both chambers of Congress. Others are Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper.
People familiar with the military advice given to Trump told The Post that Hegseth, Caine and Cooper had, at different stages of the conflict, given the president overly favorable assessments without adequately explaining the risks and costs involved.
Hegseth has been one of the chief advocates and public faces of the Iran war since the United States and Israel launched their military campaign in February. He has aggressively defended the conflict, championing an approach built around what he calls “maximum lethality.” Trump has so far rejected considering firing Hegseth, praising his work in the administration.
But the president’s assurances have done little to settle the speculation. An adviser told Reuters that Hegseth could still be removed, with the administration looking for someone to take responsibility for the Republicans’ losses.
A person familiar with the discussions also described the situation as “very dynamic at the moment,” with “knives out” as officials tried to figure out what would happen next.
At the same time, Democratic leaders said they want the Iran war to end, demanding that the administration take immediate steps to bring the conflict to a conclusion following the election.
“One of the first things that needs to happen now, not even waiting until we get to January 3rd of the new Congress…is that the president and the administration should end this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran,” Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in an interview with CNN.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer echoed the sentiment. “We are going to end the war,” he said at a news conference in Washington, D.C. “We have some Republicans already who have joined us in ending the war, and the Founding Fathers had the power of the purse as one of the ways of deterring a president who does war without the consent of the American people.”
