President Donald Trump’s Pentagon chief is waking up to a nightmare as the blame game ensues and he is right on the chopping block, according to a White House official.
Republicans are still reeling from Tuesday’s midterm bloodbath. Democrats have secured at least 54 Senate seats and crossed the 218-seat threshold for a House majority early Wednesday, winning every toss-up race except Alaska, which remained uncalled overnight.
One senior White House official speaking to the Washington Examiner suggested War Secretary Pete Hegseth was squarely in the firing line over his advice to Trump regarding the Iran war.
“The polls were right. Were Pete Hegseth’s projections about this war right? I hope he’s ready to explain to Congress what he told the president would happen,” that person said.
With Democrats taking control of both houses in January, Hegseth could soon face committees run by the opposing party, which means investigations and a likely impeachment.
The Iran war has become the common thread in Trumpworld’s finger-pointing. Trump himself told Fox News early Wednesday that the conflict was part of the problem, while also blaming candidates he said failed to inspire voters. A veteran operative working with Trump’s outside political operation told the outlet the results came down to Iran and its fallout, not campaign strategy.
Some former Trump insiders aren’t buying the excuses. Sarah Matthews, a deputy press secretary in Trump’s first term, pointed the finger straight at her old boss.
“Trump has no one to blame but himself,” she told the Washington Examiner, citing the Iran war, tariffs that drove up costs, mass deportations and corruption in the administration.
Trump has continued to downplay getting rid of his embattled Pentagon chief. He told Fox News host Bret Baier just after midnight Wednesday that there were unlikely to be personnel changes.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “It had nothing to do with my Cabinet. It was just a point — honestly, look. I’ve been doing a lot of great things for a long time, and it’s just a point in time.”
The president rarely signals the press before he fires his officials.
For now, Trump has aimed his fire elsewhere, spending election night blasting Fox News over its coverage and polling and branding Texas Gov. Greg Abbott a RINO after Abbott lost his race.
Another White House aide insisted to the outlet that nobody was at fault, chalking the losses up to a wave. But with Democrats poised to wield subpoena power on Capitol Hill, the questions about what Hegseth promised the president on Iran are not going away.
