President Donald Trump defended Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday as the Pentagon chief stares down a possible impeachment vote next week amid mounting political fallout from the Iran war and Republicans’ sweeping midterm losses.

Trump is standing by one of his most controversial Cabinet members, pledging to leave in place a political lightning rod for newly empowered Democrats who are eager to investigate the Pentagon and hold the administration accountable for the Iran war.

“No, I think he’s doing a very good job,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked whether he was considering replacing Hegseth.

Trump also acknowledged that the war contributed to Republicans’ losses Tuesday, echoing Vice President JD Vance’s assessment, but insisted he would make the same decision again.

“I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term,” Trump said of the electoral impact. “But at the same time, if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again because long term, it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear warhead.”Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) plans to force a House vote on articles of impeachment against Hegseth when Congress returns next week, betting that Republicans battered by Tuesday’s blue wave will be more willing to break with the president. Democrats, meanwhile, are preparing to use their new congressional majorities to investigate Hegseth, one of the administration’s most visible champions of the war, and potentially pursue his removal next year.

“Pete Hegseth has a reckoning,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) said Tuesday night on CBS, blaming the unpopular defense chief for stalled Pentagon spending legislation. “He is one of the reasons why we don’t have the funding or guarantee for defense that we need.”Tillis, who’s retiring from Congress, questioned whether Hegseth could effectively secure the budget the military needs during the remaining weeks of Republican control.

“I think after the election, we need to determine whether or not he’s the best person to bring those needs to Congress if he wants something done before the end of this Congress, which is only 60 days away,” Tillis said.

Vance, meanwhile, blamed the war for Republicans’ losses Wednesday, saying internal polling showed that voters who backed Trump in 2024 had abandoned the party over the conflict.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance wrote Wednesday on social media. “Our voters showed up [and] many of them voted for Democrats.”

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell dismissed the impeachment threat, saying Hegseth would “not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points or launch phony investigations where no wrongdoing exists.”“Secretary Hegseth is 100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump’s term in office,” Parnell said in a statement to The Washington Sun.

Even if the House impeaches Hegseth, removing him from office would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, where Republicans retain their majority until the new Congress convenes in January.

As of Wednesday, it was unclear whether Democrats would unite behind Massie’s resolution or how many Republicans would support it.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), who is weighing a 2028 presidential bid, pointed to the war as a major factor in Republicans’ losses while speaking to reporters Tuesday night. He accused Trump of starting a conflict without a clear objective and entrusting it to “the most unqualified secretary of defense.”Asked whether Democrats now have a mandate to impeach Hegseth, Kelly pointed to Massie’s plans and suggested Republicans will want to vent their anger with Hegseth.

“Tom Massie wants to impeach Pete Hegseth,” Kelly said. “I think there will be a lot of Republicans that’ll be just really pissed off that they fell for this bullshit from this president and Pete Hegseth.”Kelly stopped short of endorsing impeachment, instead emphasizing the need for his party to work with Republicans to advance the Democrats’ legislative priorities.

“We’ve got to govern. We’ve got to deliver for the American people,” he said. “We’ve got to get Republicans on board with some of the stuff we want to do. So it’s got to be somewhat bipartisan.”Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also sidestepped questions Wednesday about impeaching Hegseth, even as he pledged to end the war in Iran.

Schumer signaled to reporters that Democrats could use Pentagon spending legislation to constrain the administration’s military operations.

“The American people don’t know what the heck we’re fighting for in Iran,” Schumer said. “[Trump] has never made it clear. He changes his mind from day to day and minute to minute.”But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) predicted that Democrats would use their power to pursue a broad campaign of investigations and impeachment proceedings against Trump and members of his administration.

“I think we will also see two years of relentless impeachment,” Cruz said on the Polymarket “All-In” podcast. “I believe the House will impeach Donald Trump if they have the House. They may impeach him multiple times.”Cruz also predicted Hegseth would face impeachment before the new Congress reconvenes.

“I expect in the lame duck we will see an impeachment of Pete Hegseth,” Cruz said. “I think they’re eager to go forward with that.”Cruz described the prospect as “all-out partisan war,” but a Republican — Massie — is leading the effort and not Democratic leadership, which has been more cautious about endorsing a Hegseth impeachment.

Massie told Roll Call ahead of the election that he believes the chances of his resolution passing the House are better than ever, although he had not publicly identified enough Republican supporters to back that up.

The eight articles he introduced accuse Hegseth of constitutional violations and abuses of power, including prosecuting the Iran war without congressional authorization, disregarding congressional efforts to end the conflict and failing to protect civilians.

The resolution also raises allegations involving military strikes against suspected drug smugglers, actions taken against Kelly and operations in Venezuela and Yemen.

Massie intends to use a privileged resolution to refile the articles upon the House’s return to force consideration, although lawmakers could vote to table the measure rather than vote directly on impeachment.

Democratic support could prove decisive, but the election has also raised questions about whether — in their final weeks in office — Republicans who lost their reelection bids might be more willing to break with the administration or even show up in sufficient numbers to oppose the resolution.

Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colorado), an Army veteran who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, pledged Wednesday to work relentlessly to oust Hegseth from office.

“I’m going after Pete Hegseth,” Crow said in a video posted Wednesday on social media. “Not only is he incompetent and corrupt, but he is undermining our national security and the safety of our troops.”Rep. Pat Ryan (D-New York), another Army veteran on the panel, has already promised that Democrats will pursue Hegseth’s impeachment.

“We’re going to impeach Pete Hegseth,” Ryan told supporters at a rally on Sunday. “We are going to end this war. We are going to bring our troops home.”For some moderate Democrats, Hegseth is a more politically viable target than another attempt to impeach Trump.

Jim Kessler, with the centrist Democratic organization Third Way, said impeaching Trump would only help the president politically.

“Hegseth is a viable target, and is in my view the right target because I don’t know how someone can get the Iran conflict so wrong,” Kessler told The Sun. “I really would like to get inside the decision-making that led [Trump] to believe the war was going to take a month.”Kessler said concerns about Hegseth span the Democratic Party and may run strongest among lawmakers with national security backgrounds or roles.

“It’s not the progressives,” Kessler said, “it’s the national security Democrats.”