Democrats are planning to hit Pete Hegseth hard and fast if they take control of Congress after November’s midterms.
“Hegseth and crew better buckle up and lawyer up because we are coming at them full on,” New York Rep. Pat Ryan, 44, told Politico.
Ryan promised “incredibly aggressive oversight” if his party comes out on top “because this is by far the most corrupt and least transparent Pentagon, I think, we’ve ever had.”
The Defense Secretary, 46, faced a bruising Senate confirmation process last January, overshadowed by allegations of sexual assault, alcoholism, and financial irregularities.
The former Fox News personality quickly made a name for himself after taking office as one of the most controversy-prone figures in Donald Trump’s Cabinet.
He shared sensitive details of U.S. military strikes with a journalist who’d accidentally been added to a group chat with other members of the administration, as part of an escalating series of leaks now known as the Signalgate saga.
He has since faced allegations of war crimes during Trump’s campaign against Iran and of crimes against humanity during the administration’s attacks on suspected narcotrafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea.
He has also sparked backlash over repeat purges of top Pentagon brass, living conditions for sailors and Marines deployed to the Middle East, and irregularities in Defense Department contracting, notably deals involving the Trump family.
Other top members of Trump’s Cabinet, like former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, 54, and former Attorney General Pam Bondi, 60, have lost their jobs over scandals that engulfed their respective departments.
Hegseth has so far managed to hold on, despite ill-fated Democratic attempts to impeach him and growing criticism from Republican lawmakers behind closed doors.
Democrats hold an almost 8-point advantage on the general congressional ballot ahead of the November polls and, they say, plan to throw everything they have at Hegseth if they can make good on that lead.
“We will use all of the tools we can to make sure we’re getting the information we need to hold folks accountable,” Colorado Rep. Jason Crow, 47, a Democrat, told Politico.
California Rep. Robert Garcia, 48, a ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, added that preparations are already underway to remove Hegseth and his team from office in the event of a Democratic win in November.
“There’s a lot of conversations about DOD right now,” he said. “Hegseth should not be in office—a lot of others should be impeached. So those are ongoing conversations.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the Pentagon for comment on this story. Spokeswoman Kingsley Wilson told Politico that Hegseth is a “transformative leader” and that “the entire department is unified behind the secretary’s vision.”
