Tillis supports Hegseth impeachment resolution: ‘He needs to go’

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who voted to confirm Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is renewing his call for President Trump to fire the Pentagon chief after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll resigned.

“He needs to go, whether it’s impeachment or the most expedient route — just the president to replace him — would be great,” Tillis told reporters Thursday.

Driscoll, who resigned at the end of August, clashed with Hegseth over firings of the Army’s senior leadership and other changes to the department.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth on Tuesday, citing his handling of the Iran war and accusing him of violating his “oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

“I’ll let the House do what the House is gonna do,” Tillis told reporters when asked whether Republicans should support the articles of impeachment. “I think I’m pretty well staked out on my assessment of Mr. Hegseth.”

Tillis, who is not seeking reelection in November, has been one of Hegseth’s most vocal Republican critics in the Senate.

“I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country,” the outgoing North Carolina Republican wrote on the social platform X earlier this month.

He also accused Hegseth of pushing out experienced military officials and said the Pentagon needed a leader who would “retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it.”

“I urge the President to find a new leader at the Pentagon who will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it,” he said.

Tillis told Politico earlier this year that Trump firing Hegseth was on “a Christmas wish list,” and believed the Pentagon chief misled Trump on the dynamics of a war in Iran.