Washington, Nov 5 (IANS) US President Donald Trump said Thursday he intended to keep Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, as Republican Congressman Thomas Massie renewed his push to impeach the Pentagon chief over his conduct of the war with Iran and other military operations.
“I have every intention to keep him,” Trump told ABC News journalist Jonathan Karl, who reported the exchange on X. Karl said Trump acknowledged receiving calls from people unhappy with Hegseth.
Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, responded on X that if Trump intended to replace officials such as Hegseth, he should do so while he could still get their successors confirmed by the Senate. Massie also predicted that Democrats would pursue hearings and trials once they took control of Congress.
The exchange followed Massie’s statement Wednesday evening that he would reintroduce articles of impeachment unless Hegseth resigned. “There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns,” he wrote.
CNN reported that Massie told the network he planned to seek a House vote when Congress returned the following week. Any action next week would take place in the current Congress, during the session between the election and the seating of the new Congress in January.
Massie first brought eight articles of impeachment to the House floor on September 15. Three concern the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and accuse Hegseth of starting or continuing military operations against Iran without congressional authorisation.
The first article alleges that Hegseth directed US forces into hostilities against Iran on February 28 without a declaration of war, specific statutory authorisation or a national emergency created by an attack on the United States, its territories or its armed forces.
The second alleges that Hegseth continued military operations after Congress agreed in June to a concurrent resolution directing the president to remove US forces from unauthorised hostilities against Iran. The third alleges that operations continued after the statutory deadline for ending hostilities had passed.
“By engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorisation, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable,” Massie said in a September statement released by his office.
The other five articles allege that Hegseth disregarded laws intended to minimise civilian casualties, oversaw unlawful lethal strikes on suspected drug traffickers at sea, retaliated against Senator Mark Kelly over his speech, directed the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife without legal authority, and launched an unauthorised military campaign in Yemen.
Trump’s remarks to Karl addressed whether he intended to retain Hegseth. In his response, Massie argued that the eight articles he had put forward were less severe than what he expected from the incoming Congress. That was his forecast of how Democrats would proceed.
Under the Constitution, the House has the sole power to impeach federal officials. It can approve articles of impeachment by a simple majority. Each article sets out a charge for the Senate to consider if the House adopts it.
The Senate has the sole power to try impeachments. Conviction and removal require the support of two-thirds of senators present. That would mean 67 votes if all 100 senators were present.
–IANS
lkj/ksk/dan
