Hegseth confident impeachment effort against him will fail

Washington (ANTARA) — US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth believes Congress will not succeed in impeaching him, amid calls for his removal from several lawmakers.

“An embittered, defeated member of Congress, along with all his Democrat allies, has filed bogus articles of impeachment against me,” Hegseth said in a video posted to his X account on Thursday.

“Just like their efforts against President Donald Trump twice. Those efforts failed against Trump and will not succeed against me,” he added.

CNN reported, citing several Republican sources, that the US House of Representatives could vote on Hegseth’s impeachment as early as next week.

Some Republicans have accused Hegseth of persuading Trump to wage war on Iran, even though the strikes were seen as having failed to achieve their intended objectives.

On Wednesday, Trump said he was not considering replacing Hegseth and praised his performance.

However, CBS News previously reported that Trump had discussed with his advisers the possibility of Hegseth remaining in office following the Republicans’ midterm election defeat.

The US will hold midterm elections on 3 November to elect 35 senators and all 435 members of the House of Representatives, as well as legislative officials and governors in several states.

CNN forecasts that the Democratic Party will win a majority of seats in the House. Bloomberg’s projections, meanwhile, say the party could take control of the Senate with at least 51 seats.