The impeachment articles brought by Massie were seen by some Republicans as overly broad, which made officials think they could spare Hegseth an impeachment trial by having Senate majority leader John Thune dismiss all the charges in a straight-line vote.
But with Democrats taking over the Senate next year, that option is off the table.
It’s not going to be entirely simple, however. Hegseth’s biggest Republican detractors are all leaving Congress at the end of the year. Maine senator Susan Collins, North Carolina senator Thom Tillis, and Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy all lost reelection this midterm cycle, while Iowa senator Joni Ernst and Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell are stepping down after finishing their terms.
But even with his biggest detractors set to retire, at least five other Republican senators have complained about Hegseth’s performance—getting Democrats closer to the 67 votes needed to convict—like Wicker, South Dakota senator Mike Rounds, Kentucky senator Rand Paul, Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski, and Indiana senator Todd Young.
This is why the focus of the Democratic impeachment inquiry is going to have to be specific, and geared to Republican interests, so as to be unassailable.
Hegseth, for what it’s worth, doesn’t seem to want to go anywhere without a fight. In a televised appearance at the Pentagon earlier this week, Hegseth responded to a question about Vice President JD Vance blaming the Republican midterm losses on Iran, and said Vance was a “critical member of the team” and the war effort.
Hegseth then added, “I agree with what the president said, when he said ‘Hey, if I had to do this all over again, would we do it again? Absolutely.’”
Tech (Heart) Troubles
House Republicans are poised to open an investigation into Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s interactions with alleged Chinese spy and one-time tech executive Alice Huang, who is not related to the CEO.
The growing push for Congress to stand up its own investigation is set to put Republicans on a collision course with Trump, who has continued to publicly defend the CEO of the world’s most valuable chip company.