A defiant Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said he wouldn’t back down after this week’s midterm elections saw Democrats take control of both houses of Congress.
Mr. Hegseth defended his sweeping Pentagon overhaul, which dismantled DEI programs throughout the military and forced dozens of generals and admirals out of uniform.
“Why do the Democrats and deep state radicals really hate us? Because we tore down their sacred cows one by one and without apology,” he said Thursday from the steps of the Pentagon. “DEI is a Marxist ideology built to destroy us, so we crushed it. Being trans is a mental illness incompatible with military service. Combatting climate change is not a military objective.”
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Multiple lawmakers on Capitol Hill have pursued or openly prepared articles of impeachment against Mr. Hegseth.
President Trump has dismissed reports that he is preparing to fire his Pentagon chief, stating that Mr. Hegseth is doing a “very good job.” However, he acknowledged Thursday that confirming a replacement would be easier before Democrats take over the Senate in January.
“They attack me, they attack us because we are effective,” Mr. Hegseth said on social media. “It’s not going to work. We will not back down. We put America and the warfighter first.”
Mr. Hegseth also defended the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, despite it contributing directly to sweeping Republican losses across the country.
“When we say that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon … we will do the hard work to ensure it,” he said. “Regardless of how people feel about the war, I believe it is a courageous and historic effort that will ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.”
The incoming chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said his priority is to conduct “vigorous oversight” of the Pentagon after the Democratic-led Congress is sworn in.
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington said Democrats will demand public transparency and accountability from senior Pentagon officials through “increased public testimony.”
“The blatant and corrosive politicization of our armed forces and purging of the ranks based on loyalty and ideology are high on the list” to be investigated, Mr. Smith said.
Mr. Hegseth said his opponents are obsessed and will use tactics against him that they employed against the president.
“Their policies don’t work, so their obsession with political theater disguised as power drives them to try to destroy their opponents,” he said. “It’s all about the politics of personal destruction. It didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me.”
Mr.Hegseth also called on Congress to pass a $350 billion defense bill, which he called a “generational investment.”
“Joe Biden and [former Defense Secretary] Lloyd Austin left our country and this department in a terrible place, and we have had to fight every single day to restore it,” he said. “We ended the ‘weird and the woke’ and elevated patriots and strength.”
Mr. Hegseth said he was more determined than ever to fight and finish the job he began two years ago.
“We will defend this republic from all enemies, foreign and domestic,” he said.
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