GOP senator ‘went off on Hegseth’ and leaves door open to Senate trial: report

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s odds of facing an impeachment trial in the Senate increased Tuesday after a GOP senator and frequent ally of President Donald Trump “went off” on the embattled Pentagon chief, Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reported.

Hegseth faces eight articles of impeachment accusing him of high crimes and misdemeanors, and the House must vote on them no later than Wednesday. If the House impeaches him, the charges would head to the Senate, where a simple majority could either dismiss them or allow a full trial to proceed.

With Republicans holding just 53 Senate seats, a handful of GOP defections would be enough to move a trial forward, and on Tuesday, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) “went off on Hegseth,” questioning whether he had misled Trump about the U.S. war against Iran, Desiderio reported, leaving “open the possibility of voting to allow an impeachment trial to proceed.”

“I question whether the information that is coming through the secretary out of the Pentagon has been accurate, and the way he is portraying the war to the president,” Ernst said, according to Desiderio.

“If there is deception coming from our Pentagon and being transmitted to the president, I would want to know that. Now, will that be part of this impeachment? I don’t know. But I have some serious questions.”

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who lost his reelection bid in May to a Trump-backed challenger, first introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth in September and reintroduced them Monday, accusing him of waging war against Iran without congressional authorization and abusing the powers of his office. Republicans hold a razor-thin 218-214 House majority, meaning only a handful of GOP defections could result in Hegseth’s impeachment.