The calculations are delicate as Hegseth is in a fight for his political lifepublished at 12:41 GMT 10 November

12:41 GMT 10 November

Gary O'Donoghue
Chief North America correspondent, reporting from the Pentagon

Pete Hegseth is in a fight for his political life – and he’s likely to be in a combative mood when he stands behind the podium today.

His defence so far has been consistent - that efforts to impeach him are really attacks on military personnel and the operations he orchestrated and also, by extension, on Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

Expect him to frame the charges as partisan politics and to present himself as a loyal presidential foot soldier. His most important audience may be just one person - President Trump.

In this Washington, political survival often depends less on congressional arithmetic than presidential confidence.

Hegseth enjoys Trump's public backing for now, though cabinet members are acutely aware that presidential support is always conditional and can evaporate in an instant.

The political calculation is delicate.

Removing him could look like an admission that the Iran war was a mistake; keeping him risks seeming oblivious to the lessons of the midterms where voters thrashed Republicans for the war and its effects.

Image source, Getty Images

The White House has consistently denied rumours that the defence secretary may be on the outs.

On Monday, in an impromptu news briefing, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he will "stand by" Hegseth.

"He won two wars. He was in charge. We all won. We had great people."

He called Thomas Massie, who introduced the impeachment, "a stone cold loser".

He added that the soldiers "love Pete Hegseth" and argues that since he came into office, "we have waiting lists of people trying to" join the army.

"He's done a very good job."

At the US midterm elections earlier this month, the Democrats won both the US Senate and House of Representatives. From January, they will take control of Congress for the rest of Donald Trump's presidency.

Democrats tallied up victories in states that were comfortably won by Trump two years ago in the presidential election, including two statewide victories in Texas - ending a string of defeats they have endured for almost two generations.

US Vice-President JD Vance has blamed the Iran war for his party's devastating losses.

At the time, Trump spoke to a number of US media outlets and conceded that the Democrats did a "good job" and that he was looking forward to working with the opposition party - albeit he would still have the power, as president, to veto legislation that Democrats advance through Congress.

Days after that, he questioned the legitimacy of the results, writing on Truth Social: "Does anybody really believe that this 'Election' was honest."

Here are the results in maps (and you can get more info on those here):

Ione Wells
North America correspondent

Donald Trump said on Monday that there was “positive momentum” towards a deal to end the war in Iran after meeting Qatar’s prime minister at the White House.

He added that a resumption of strikes on Iran was “quite unlikely.”

This is not the first time that Donald Trump has said Iran is “militarily” over and that he thinks the war is going to end soon. But, the circumstances for him are different now.

Republicans are acutely aware that the Iran war - and the economic impact on the price of food and fuel here in the United States - was a major reason why they did badly in the midterm elections last week, and lost control of both chambers of Congress.

Last night, Trump said taking military action at this point doesn’t seem “very necessary” but that the US was “loaded” and ready if that changes.

It comes as the Republican Thomas Massie has pushed for a vote in the House of Representatives to impeach the Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, in part over going to war with Iran without approval from Congress and authorising strikes that killed civilians, including 120 school children.

Hegseth says he’s “not worried” about the impeachment threat and plans to address it in a press conference later today.

The war in Iran was among the top issues for voters in the recent US midterm election results, and is the main reason why Thomas Massie is asking for impeachment of Hegseth.

"By engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorisation, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable," Massie said.

A survey of the US electorate - officially called the Voter Poll - asked tens of thousands of Americans for their opinions and motivations when casting their vote.

The poll found that around six in 10 (63%) of those asked said the US made the wrong decision to take military action against Iran.

Almost four in 10 (37%) said it was right.

Separately, three-quarters of voters (74%) said the conflict was a crucial or major factor in their vote for Congress and a quarter (26%) said it was a minor factor or not a factor.

Impeaching a cabinet secretary is rare - the House must vote to impeach, and the Senate must vote to convict for the secretary to be removed from office.

After Republican congressman Thomas Massie formally introduced his articles of impeachment in a resolution on the House floor on Monday afternoon - a 48-hour clock started for the chamber to take up the measure.

Lawmakers could vote on the resolution directly, vote to refer it to committee or to set it aside.

For the resolution to pass the House, it needs a simple majority. Even with all Democratic support, it would likely need some Republicans on side as the party holds a slim majority.

Republicans remain in power in Congress until January - currently, there are 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats in the House.

While the House requires a simple majority to pass articles of impeachment, the Senate mandates a two-thirds vote (67 votes) to convict and remove an official from office - a threshold that is difficult to meet in the current congressional term.

There have only ever been two impeached cabinet secretaries, and three impeached presidents - Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump (who was impeached twice).

All were acquitted by the senate, thus allowing them to remain in office.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, Reuters

Speaking from Rhode Island yesterday, Pete Hegseth told reporters that efforts to remove him from office were by "politically motivated people" who had substantial policy disagreements with him.

But, he argues, "their disagreements are with success".

"We are very proud of the President’s America First agenda," he said, after outlining achievements made by his department, including "getting our European partners to step up" and putting "cartels on the run" in Central and South America.

"If we want to litigate…the success of those things, I’m happy to do it all day long," he said.

Asked if he has enough Republican support to defeat the impeachment motion, he said "we're not worried about that", instead pointing to today's news conference, where he'll say his remarks.

"I hope you all come up loaded for bare with your questions."

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie yesterday introduced eight articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives.

In doing so, he said Hegseth is "breaking the law" by engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorisation.

Massie says the effort is aimed at pushing President Donald Trump to replace Hegseth before Democrats can launch their own impeachment process when they take control of Congress in January.

"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do," he told reporters after introducing the articles.

The move starts a 48-hour clock for the chamber to take up the measure. Lawmakers could vote on the resolution directly, vote to refer it to committee or to set it aside.

The Kentucky congressman first introduced impeachment articles in September and has now brought them back in the wake of Republicans losing control of both the House and Senate in last week's midterm elections.

He said he hoped to force Trump to name a replacement, who could be quickly confirmed while Republicans have power.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is set to appear shortly at the Pentagon, giving his first news conference in six months to address a Republican-led effort to impeach him.

Republican Congressman Thomas Massie formally introduced his articles of impeachment in a resolution on the House floor on Monday afternoon.

He argues Hegseth broke the law by launching the US-Iran War without approval from Congress and has long been critical of Trump and the war in Iran since it began.

Massie's action on Monday started a 48-hour clock for the chamber to take up the measure - they can vote directly, vote to refer it to committee, or to set it aside.

It's likely the action won't pass as impeaching a cabinet secretary is rare - it must be approved by both chambers for the secretary to be removed from office and currently the Republicans control Congress.

US President Donald Trump says he'll stand by Hegseth, who himself said yesterday he's "not worried" about the potential impeachment.

We will bring you all the key lines here, and you can click Watch Live to follow the briefing from 13:00 GMT.