Cabinet secretaries are rarely impeached. Only two impeachments have happened in American history: William W. Belknap, Secretary of War, in 1876, during the Grant Administration, and Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, in 2024, under the Biden Administration.
Neither impeachment removed the cabinet secretaries from office.
President Donald Trump is joined by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Vice President JD Vance, British Ambassador Peter Mandelson, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, while announcing a trade agreement with the U.K., Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Emily J. Higgins)
President Donald Trump is joined by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Vice President JD Vance, British Ambassador Peter Mandelson, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, while announcing a trade agreement with the U.K., Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the Oval Office. (Official White House Photo by Emily J. Higgins)
Pete Hegseth, who, like Belknap, calls himself the “Secretary of War,” could soon become the third.
According to Axios, the House of Representatives is “poised” to impeach Hegseth as soon as this week, in the lame-duck session, and the effort may get enough Republican defections to succeed.
Republicans maintain a small majority in the current House, which they lost in last week’s midterm elections.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a House Republican who is retiring, told Axios that the Defense Secretary doesn’t have “a lot of love” on the Hill, although Bacon did not commit to voting for a Hegseth impeachment.
Hegseth is also in a position to ask Congress to pass the annual defense spending bill, which could be a challenge given his unpopularity.
When he faced Senate confirmation in 2025, Hegseth was confirmed by a razor-thin vote, with Vice President JD Vance required to break the tie.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), another Republican who won’t be in the next Congress after Trump backed his primary challenger, is introducing articles of impeachment against Hegseth, a move House Speaker Mike Johnson blocked before the election.
“Iran, Iran, Iran”
According to Axios, there’s a great deal of anger in the GOP caucus about the Iran war.
“Iran, Iran, Iran … We should have never done the war before the midterms,” one Republican in Congress told the outlet.
And Hegseth, as Pentagon chief, is treated as “the face” of Iran policy, and much of that has to do with how Hegseth has sold the war.
One elected official described the “Secretary of War” as “damaging to our ability to get the facts out to the American people on why the strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities and the additional military actions were necessary.”
On “Thin Ice”
Of course, if Hegseth is removed as Defense Secretary, it won’t necessarily be through impeachment. After all, Trump regularly removed cabinet secretaries in his first term, including cycling through multiple defense secretaries.
Another Axios report last week said Hegseth could be on “thin ice” in the Trump Administration, in addition to the lack of “love” from Republicans in Congress.
“Hegseth is definitely on thin ice,” one unnamed Trump adviser told Axios. “It doesn’t mean the president forces him out. But there are complications.”
It was reported last week that Susie Wiles, the outgoing White House chief of staff, sought to make Hegseth the scapegoat for the midterm losses, though that resulted in Wiles leaving and Stephen Miller — who is allied with Hegseth — becoming the new chief of staff.
“Somebody’s gotta take the fall, and Pete is moving to the top of the list,” one unnamed “U.S. official” told Axios.
Axios said there are “four factors” weighing on the president at the moment: the threat that Congress could impeach Hegseth, the need for a “scalp,” and the upcoming lame-duck session, which makes it possible that Trump could confirm a replacement. At the same time, Republicans still hold a Senate majority, and Hegseth could get a “soft landing” in the form of a Senate seat.
Is the Senate Off-Ramp Still On?
Before the elections, it was reported that Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who ran for and was elected governor of Tennessee, could consider appointing Hegseth to her vacated Senate seat.
Hegseth, who lived in Tennessee for a time before his appointment to the Pentagon, previously ran for the U.S. Senate, unsuccessfully seeking the seat in his native Minnesota in 2012.
However, the Associated Press reported last week that Hegseth is not in consideration for an appointment to Blackburn’s seat.
An unlikely frontrunner has emerged for that seat: Glenn Jacobs, former mayor of Knox County, Tenn., who spent many years in professional wrestling as Kane.
Jacobs would be the first member of the WWE Hall of Fame in the U.S. Senate, although the president of the United States is also in that Hall of Fame.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has written thousands of articles on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
