Hegseth on Vance’s criticism of the Iran war: ‘Politics is not really my thing’

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a Tuesday morning press conference deflected Vice President Vance’s earlier criticism that the Iran war led to stunning Republican losses in the midterm elections, telling reporters he respects Vance “greatly” but was “not going to exchange any finger-pointing.”

“Thankfully, politics is not really my thing. I do the Department of War and making sure we’re prepared and ready. So a lot of people are going to look at the conflict and assess it,” Hegseth said.

He praised Vance as “a critical member of the team in every aspect of this” and said he was grateful for input the vice president has given the Pentagon chief personally.

But Hegseth added he agreed with President Trump when he said he would start the Iran war all over again, even if it is deeply unpopular.

“It was done for the right reasons to ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon,” he said. “As Marco Rubio said, I think quite well, it’s not necessarily popular, but it may have been necessary, and that’s certainly how I feel. It was a necessary undertaking.”

Hegseth has remained defiant in the face of impeachment proceedings against him in the House over the Iran war and other conflicts, calling the effort “a farce” and “a stunt.”

Hegseth’s first press briefing at the Pentagon in 189 days came after Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Monday unveiled eight articles of impeachment against him. Massie has accused the Defense chief of violating the Constitution and other laws during U.S. military operations in Iran, Yemen, Venezuela and the Caribbean.

Without mentioning Massie by name, Hegseth called him “one disgruntled and defeated congressman” who is following “a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” and he said Massie is attempting to “do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it” in his final days in Congress.

“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt, and everybody knows it,” Hegseth said. “In the 250 years of our American republic, no secretary of war or secretary of Defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations, and in our case, successful ones at that.”

Hegseth also sought to tie himself to the president, comparing the impeachment effort against him to similar attempts to remove Trump from office in his first term — once over an alleged quid pro quo phone call with Ukraine and the second time over the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.

“We’ve seen this show before. They impeached President Trump over a perfect phone call. They impeached him again in his final week in office. Both times they failed. Both times he came back stronger, and the American people sent him back to the White House,” Hegseth said.

“Now they’re trying a third time, this time against a member of his Cabinet. They will fail again, and if standing with President Trump puts me in that company, I’ll take that company every day of the week.”

The speech appeared to please Trump, who shortly posted his review of the Pentagon chief to social media.

“Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday.

House lawmakers later Tuesday are expected to move on a key procedural step in the effort to impeach Hegseth, a first step that will determine whether the full lower chamber will move ahead on the eight impeachment articles.