In this episode, Aaron Parnas reports on articles of impeachment filed against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which list eight charges covering the wars in Iran and Yemen, strikes on boats, and an attack on an elementary school. He walks through what the resolution alleges and what would happen if the House votes to impeach, including the Senate trial that would follow.
Clips feature Republican Representative French Hill, who leaves the door open to impeachment while questioning whether the conduct meets that threshold. The episode also covers turmoil at the White House over deportation policy and possible leadership challenges for Chuck Schumer and John Thune.
In this episode Aaron Parnas, French Hill
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It's happening: articles of impeachment have officially been filed against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Not threatened, not floated, filed. Impeachment is here. There are 8 articles covering the wars in Iran, attacks in Yemen and Venezuela, a strike on an elementary school, deadly strikes on boats, and a retaliation against a sitting United States Senator. And a vote is happening this week by Wednesday. Pete Hegseth is likely to be impeached. Republicans themselves are saying it could pass.
We're going to walk through what that means and what happens next. Meanwhile, Trump and his attorney general are fighting back. Donald Trump, at the same time, is actively undercutting JD Vance publicly. Chuck Schumer may soon face a challenge for Senate leadership, and much more. If you can, make sure to subscribe, support this work. We're going to head to Capitol Hill, meeting with some freshmen, incoming members of Congress this week, and have a lot of news to cover. Like, comment, share to get the word out. Let's start with what Thomas Massey did moments ago.
He filed articles of impeachment. Not a one-line resolution, but a detailed 34-page list of 8 articles of impeachment outlining Pete Hegseth's high crimes and misdemeanors. It calls for Hegseth to be removed from office and barred from ever holding federal office again. The first 3 articles are about Iran. The resolution says Hegseth helped launch the war on February 28 without approval from Congress. It says he kept the war going after both the House and the Senate passed a resolution back in June directing the United States to withdraw its troops, which the resolution calls the first time in history that both chambers have passed such a measure.
It says he flew past the war powers resolution's 60-day deadline without Congress ever authorizing the war. The fourth article is the most devastating one. It accuses Hegseth of gutting the United States military's civilian protection safeguards, including cutting more than 90% of the staff assigned to prevent civilian harm, eliminating funding for the Army's casualty tracking database, and firing the military's top lawyers. The resolution says that led directly to a U.S. strike on an elementary school in southern Iran, in Minab, that killed 156 civilians, including at least 120 school children.
The fifth article charges Hegseth with what it calls extrajudicial killings of at least 243 people in strikes on alleged drug boats. The resolution says that it includes a second strike that killed 2 survivors who were clinging on to the wreckage. The last 3 articles accuse Hegseth of retaliating against Senator Mark Kelly for telling troops they cannot refuse illegal orders, of carrying out the operation that seized Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro without congressional approval, and of launching an unlawful war in Yemen that has killed an estimated 224 civilians.
And the resolution uses Hegseth's words against him. It quotes his promise of maximum lethality, not tepid legality. It quotes his line from the leaked Signal chat about the Yemen strikes, quote, "we can easily pause." Massey's argument? Well, if you can easily pause, there was no imminent threat. These are charges on the resolution, not findings of a court. And now the case Congress will have to vote on. Who's going to vote for it? We'll start with Hakeem Jeffries, the man who is currently leading the Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives. He is a hard guess, and so is every single Democrat, at least currently, in the House of Representatives.
On the Republican side, Republicans meanwhile are saying, "We're going to leave the door open to this." And right now, based on what I understand, there are enough votes to impeach. Take a listen to French Hill, a Republican in a Trump-plus-14 district who left the door open to impeaching Hegseth.
Republican colleague Thomas Massey is spearheading an effort to impeach Pete Hegseth, the secretary. There is action expected this week. Some of your colleagues, like James Comer, have said with a high level of confidence, "There's a lot of questions about Hegseth," and Republican voters are upset. Should Hegseth be impeached?
Well, the question is for the president. Should he continue to serve as the secretary of war?
You're going to be asked to answer this, though, by Representative Massey.
Yeah, that's right. Well, you know, I want to hear the debate on it, to see if it merits impeachment versus some other disciplinary action, or action by the president if he's not getting the job done in leading the Department of War. I think that's the issue.
Are you satisfied with how the war has been handled?
No. But I mean, I think the commander in chief has to take the responsibility for the strategy of conducting the war and how it's been conducted. But I'll tell you one thing: there's nobody in America that wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Of course.
This has been a goal of the United States for five decades.
Right.
Well, look at the 1990s, Margaret.
Right.
President Clinton had the opportunity to prevent North Korea from having a nuclear weapon, and it didn't happen.
Right.
And that's a big issue for North Asia and for the U.S.
And CENTCOM just put out a $20 million reward offer for information about Iran's nuclear program. So it's clear the U.S. government doesn't have clarity, nor has it completely obliterated the program. But just to go back to Hegseth: do I hear you right? You don't necessarily approve of how the war is going, but you're undecided about whether he has committed an impeachable offense. Are you open to considering impeachment?
Right. Right. Here, look, look, this is no, this is the issue. If you don't think he's done a good job conducting his job, that doesn't mean per se that he's committed an impeachable offense. He's an executive officer of the executive branch, and if he's not conducting his mission in the right way, then the president ought to make a change there. The question is: are we leading at the Pentagon in the right way?
No.
Or.
He is leaving the door open to possibly voting to impeach Hegseth, but there are many more as well. Now, of course, Trump isn't backing down. He's defended Hegseth through and through, but ultimately it looks increasingly likely that the secretary of defense won't last through the end of the week. Why? Well, because if Pete Hegseth is impeached, there is a constitutionally mandated trial in the United States Senate. Republicans don't want to put Pete Hegseth on trial, but that will have to happen whether in the next week or two or in the new Congress if Hegseth is actually impeached by the United States House of Representatives.
At the same time, Trump is also having some difficulties inside the White House. Today is Stephen Miller's first day back at the White House, now as chief of staff. It's a big deal because of what Trump just admitted overnight. Trump admitted his deportation crackdown was, quote, "too tough." But multiple people told CBS News that ICE has received no instructions to actually scale back. And in fact, quite the contrary. We're seeing around the country still ICE officials taking children into custody, ICE officials ripping apart communities in real time.
Take, for example, this image I'm going to show you from San Diego where ICE has taken an 8-year-old Haitian boy into custody, and no one knows where he is. Now, right now, it's we're talking about leadership races in the House and the United States Senate. Hakeem Jeffries in the House. Republicans have a leadership race in the House as well. In the Senate, Chuck Schumer is facing potential challenges. John Thune, the Republican leader, is facing potential challenges. And today, while no one has yet stepped up to challenge Hakeem in the House, Chuck Schumer may have a challenger in the Senate.
Chris Van Hollen says he's now open to running against Chuck Schumer, receiving an outpouring of calls and is in active listening mode, saying the door is not shut. And in the Republican side, you have Republicans like Jim Banks and others urging John Thune to push elections for Republican leadership after tomorrow in an effort to potentially oust John Thune. So we'll see what happens next. Right now, at least as it stands, there is no one running against Hakeem Jeffries in the House, no one running against officially against Chuck Schumer in the Senate. But it does look as though Chuck Schumer could have a challenger.
We'll see what happens. Spread the word. Subscribe, support. See you soon.
Aaron Parnas reports on the news of the day.
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