US President Donald Trump is reportedly considering whether his war secretary, Pete Hegseth, should remain in office after Republicans suffered major losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections driven by public backlash against the US war on Iran.
Trump has reportedly questioned advisers and political allies about Hegseth’s performance, particularly as criticism grows over the administration’s launching of the war, CBS News reported.
The war on Iran emerged as a central issue in the election, with NBC exit polls showing that 74 percent of voters regarded it as a crucial or major factor in their decisions.
Meanwhile, Democrats secured control of the Senate after earlier taking a majority in the House, intensifying pressure on the Trump administration and raising the prospect of renewed congressional investigations into the Pentagon’s leadership.
US Vice President JD Vance attributed the Republican defeat directly to the war of aggression.
“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote in a lengthy post on X on Wednesday morning.
Hegseth was already facing scrutiny from lawmakers before the election.
Republican Representative Thomas Massie has threatened to revive articles of impeachment against the war secretary, but said he would abandon the effort if Hegseth resigned.
“There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns,” Massie wrote on X on November 4. Sources cited by CNN said they expected the measure to pass.
Some administration officials have also suggested that responsibility for the election losses could extend beyond Hegseth.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command, and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reportedly played significant roles in developing policy and military guidance for the aggression against Iran, which began on February 28 with the martyrdom of the Islamic Revolution Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and top military commanders, along with dozens of students and school staff at Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab.
Other sources, however, said Trump has not made a final decision on replacing Hegseth.
"I think it's terrible," Trump said on Thursday when asked by reporters about Democrats possibly seeking to impeach Hegseth.
The war secretary has reportedly been successful in presenting Trump with an overly favorable picture of the war on Iran, which has failed spectacularly in achieving US military objectives.
Additionally, The Atlantic, citing advisers close to Trump, reported that Hegseth remains unpopular within the White House and has been accused of withholding or softening information about the lost war.
“Hegseth is good at telling the president what he wants to hear,” one adviser told The Atlantic.
If Hegseth is ultimately removed from his post due to the major midterm election losses, one possible replacement being discussed is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
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