Knives out for Trump chief as Pentagon staffers prep to 'spill their guts'

The push to impeach President Donald Trump's contentious defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, is not dying down, with a new report from The Telegraph revealing that Pentagon insiders are ready to "spill their guts" after the midterms.

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie first attempted to initiate impeachment proceedings against Hegseth, introducing articles on the House floor after keeping them secret from his colleagues out of concern that they would try to stop him. Speaker Mike Johnson responded by adjourning the House to an early recess to prevent a vote on the articles from taking place. Massie's impeachment articles against Hegseth focused primarily on his handling of the war in Iran.

Now, Pentagon sources, both current and former, have indicated to the Telegraph that they are ready to tell Congress what they know should impeachment proceedings against Hegseth go forward. Some potential whistleblowers, the outlet reported, have already been in touch with Democratic lawmakers about potential proceedings that could take place when and if the party retakes the House majority in the midterms, which they are overwhelmingly tipped to do.

If impeachment is not on the cards, Democrats hope that the disclosures from these officials can force Trump to fire Hegseth.

"They plan to subpoena Mr. Hegseth’s inner circle and rake over controversies from his tenure, such as 'Signalgate,' when he accidentally leaked U.S. military plans to a journalist," the report detailed. With the help of informants, they hope to force embarrassing disclosures from his time at the Pentagon, which would either build an impeachment case against him or provoke Donald Trump into dismissing him. Sources said the defence secretary is vulnerable because he has committed a string of costly blunders in office while isolating himself from potential allies."

"There’s going to be a lot of people that are going to very quietly go to the chair of the armed [services] committee and are going to spill their guts, provide them with everything they can and leak everything they can,” one source described as "well-connected" told the Telegraph. “It’ll be horrendous. It’ll be consistent embarrassment."

Another anonymous source, described as a "former senior administration official," told the outlet that Hegseth will face "two huge problems" going forward.

"Through his arrogance, he’s made many former allies willing to work with Democrats to hold his feet to the fire for all the damage he’s done to our military," the source said. "I hope he and his inner circle have some very strong legal insurance given what they’re facing once Democrats get the gavels."