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U.S. President Donald Trump has been asking advisers, in person and by phone, whether Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should keep his job.
The questions follow Republican losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections that handed Democrats strong majorities in both chambers of Congress, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The new balance of power makes an impeachment effort against Hegseth more likely.
Other sources said Trump has not decided to replace Hegseth. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement that the president “has full confidence in Secretary Hegseth.”
She also praised U.S. military operations in Iran and Venezuela.
She credited Hegseth with reversing what she described as the Biden-era Pentagon’s prioritization of “DEI and woke ideology.”
Democrats were already trying to impeach Hegseth before the election. On April 15, Rep. Yassamin Ansari of Arizona led a group of House Democrats in filing six articles of impeachment.
The articles accused him of waging an unauthorized war against Iran, violating the law of armed conflict, mishandling sensitive military information in a Signal group chat, obstructing congressional oversight and abusing his power.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson dismissed the effort at the time as “just another Democrat trying to make headlines.” With Republicans holding a narrow House majority then, the measure was not expected to advance.
By late October, CNN reported that Democrats planned wide-ranging investigations into the Iran war, with Hegseth as their first target.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats “haven’t ruled anything in, and we haven’t ruled anything out,” but later said Hegseth “is in deep trouble.” Impeachment in the House requires only a simple majority.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky has said he plans to force a House vote on eight impeachment articles during the lame-duck session, in the week of Nov. 9. He told Roll Call he gives the resolution “better than a 50% chance of passing.”
His articles allege, among other things, that Hegseth acted illegally in a military operation against fishing boats in the eastern Pacific. They also allege he violated the War Powers Resolution by not seeking congressional authorization for the Iran war.
Some White House aides have predicted that part of the blame for the GOP defeat will fall on Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both played large roles in guidance on the Iran war, according to the sources.
Vice President JD Vance has blamed the war itself. “The reason we lost is the war,” he wrote in a lengthy post on X on Wednesday morning.
One source told CBS News that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, is being floated as a possible replacement. The argument is that DeSantis could be confirmed by the Senate during the lame-duck period and then take over the Pentagon when his term as governor ends Jan. 5.
Days before the election, Trump called the impeachment talk “terrible” and said Hegseth was “doing a great job.” Speaker Mike Johnson called the push “a stunt.” Retiring Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican, described Hegseth as “more of a performer than he is a leader,” though he said he was leaning against impeachment and favored congressional oversight instead.
Congress returns this month to must-pass Pentagon legislation, including the annual defense policy bill and funding tied to the Iran war.
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