'Vote within two days' U.S. defense impeachment clock... Hegseth's 'war justification' public opinion war (comprehensive)

As soon as the U.S. midterm elections, which resulted in a crushing defeat for the Republican Party and a landslide victory for the Democratic Party, are over, the Federal Congress is making noise with impeachment proceedings against Secretary of Defense (War) Pete Hegseth.

On the 9th (local time), when the U.S. Congress reconvened after the midterm election recess, Representative Thomas Massey (Kentucky), a representative anti-Trump member of the Republican Party, finally reissued the impeachment bill against Secretary Hegseth.

This is the same as the one Rep. Massey surprisingly proposed on September 15th. It pointed out charges such as carrying out the war against Iran without following legal procedures and illegally kidnapping President Nicolas Maduro through military operations in Venezuela.

This motion was also made in a ‘privileged’ form, forcing a vote within two days at the general meeting of the House of Representatives. This means that a vote on impeachment will be held on the 11th at the latest.

In September, the day after the proposal was proposed, House Speaker Mike Johnson called a recess early, and the vote was canceled.

In the House of Representatives, a simple majority vote is required for passage, so there is a high possibility that this impeachment bill will pass.

Currently, the Republican Party is the majority party with 218 seats (Democrats 214 seats), but many within the Republican Party are of the opinion that the key factor in the crushing defeat in this election was the war with Iran, so it is expected that there will be enough breakaway votes needed to pass the bill.

James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a NewsNation interview on the 6th, "There are a lot of questions being raised about Secretary Hegseth. We have no idea what the future strategy is on the Iran issue. No one is satisfied with the Iran issue. Republican voters are more dissatisfied than Democrats."

Almost all Democrats are expected to vote in favor. Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a broadcast interview the previous day, "There will be incredibly strong support."

Minister Hegseth, who was involved, strongly opposed the push for impeachment against him on this day as well.

He met with reporters during a visit to Newport, Rhode Island, and said that raising objections to the war with Iran and the operation to arrest Maduro is "questioning the military and the historical achievements they have achieved."

He added, "Someone had to stop the Iranian regime from developing nuclear weapons. The choice was between taking no action and hoping the problem would go away on its own, or taking drastic action."

Minister Hegseth described Massey's impeachment motion as "noise" and emphasized, "My team is not worried about noise. I also told my soldiers, 'Don't worry about noise.'"

Minister Hegseth did not stop there and announced a press conference at 8 a.m. on the 10th, Eastern time.

At this conference, held six months after the conference on the Iran war on May 5, Minister Hegseth is expected to deny various charges specified in the impeachment bill and emphasize the legitimacy of carrying out the war with Iran.

President Donald Trump also actively defended Minister Hegseth on this day.

At a surprise press conference held at the White House that day, he said that Minister Hegseth commanded the operation to capture Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro and the war with Iran, adding, "He won two wars. What did he do wrong?"

He also said, “Active-duty soldiers and great patriots love Pete Hegseth,” and said, “We will support him” even if Secretary Hegseth is impeached.

President Trump criticized Rep. Massey, who proposed the impeachment bill, as a "loser," and brought up the fact that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized in early 2024 during the former Joe Biden administration without reporting to the president, and said, "How about impeaching that person who went missing for two weeks?"