President Donald Trump's close foreign policy adviser, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, is likely to go down by either impeachment or disgraced resignation, according to one expert — and it is not because he bungled the Iran War.
"First of all, you can't just make the case that because Hegseth gives lousy advice and he's incompetent, therefore he should be impeached," retired US Naval War College professor and The Atlantic writer Tom Nichols told MS NOW's Ari Melber on Tuesday. "Even if the war in Iran had gone better, I think it's important to bear in mind he is still guilty of impeachable offenses. To me, there's no doubt about that. Even if we were erecting a statue of Donald Trump in the middle of Tehran right now, Pete Hegseth has still abused the power of his office."
Nichols continued, "He has ordered operations that I believe violate international law, therefore violate American law. So I think people should be aware of saying, 'Well, he's just a bad Secretary of Defense and therefore that's impeachable.' Congress can impeach you for whatever they want. It's not a court of law."
He concluded, "Impeachable offense is whatever Congress thinks it is. But I think even aside from the record in Iran, which I think is gaslighting itself, he has committed actions that I think put him well within the zone for impeachment, by abusing his office, dereliction of duty, and violation of American law. And I think that's the really interesting thing. I suppose it was just inevitable that Republicans would do this on a party line, but GOP has just suffered through an election where two of the very clear messages were, 'Stop being slavishly devoted to Donald Trump and stop providing some accountability.' And House Republicans basically said, 'No, we're not gonna do either one of those things.'"
In the aftermath of Republicans suffering devastating losses during the 2026 midterm elections, many Republicans are pointing the finger of blame at Hegseth, who they claim bungled America's entry into the Iran War. Even many of Hegseth's fellow Republicans are reportedly disgusted with the Cabinet official.
"The House could vote as soon as next week to impeach the Pentagon’s top leader," reported CNN's Adam Cancryn, Sarah Ferris, Zachary Cohen and Alayna Treene on Wednesday. "Many Republican lawmakers and allies alarmed by Tuesday’s wipeout are moving swiftly to pin blame for the election results on Hegseth, arguing behind the scenes that he played a chief role in convincing Trump to attack Iran with no exit strategy — and no plan for managing the inevitable political fallout."
They added, "The knives-out campaign comes despite private acknowledgement from House and Senate GOP strategists that the party’s problems extended far beyond the war, triggering 2008-level losses that will take years to reverse. But for now, party leaders – and many in their ranks – remain unwilling to directly blame Trump for their woes."