April 16, 2026
Pete Hegseth Accused Of “High Crimes And Misdemeanors”
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RSS Feed House Democrats have filed six articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The lawmakers make serious allegations against Hegseth for his handling of the war in Iran and his leadership choices. The resolution says Hegseth violated the law of armed conflict and targeted civilians, and claims the defense secretary abused his power and politicized our armed forces.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Thursday, April sixteenth, and the Defense Secretary Pete Hexth is being accused of high crimes and misdemeanors and an effort is underway to remove him from his position as Defense Secretary. And it's an absolute waste of everybody's time. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I mean, I guess they could be doing this robes for symbolic reasons.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: Yes, the headlines all seem very scary and historic, and then when you start reading into exactly what's going on in Congress and how some folks are choosing to spend their time, it is fascinating. And look, they're getting headlines, they're getting attention, they're getting news articles written, they're getting people to look at Pete Hexit and his conduct as defensive.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: Tell me what the value is in that the guy that we see every single day, that we see executing this war that we see through he is very high profile, right visible member of this cabinet. He even has a press conference today going to be updating folks on the war in Iran. Okay, so doing this now what what?
00:01:15
Speaker 2: No?
00:01:15
Speaker 1: Really, what are they trying to do other than build up their own war chest to getting ready for a midterm, get some headlines, get some attention. I'm saying, I'm trying to find robes an actual the real value in doing this.
00:01:30
Speaker 3: I guess the value is to take a stand.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: I like your side public Yes, no, I hear you.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: But in terms of it actually being actionable this year, there's not a snowballs chance in hell that this is going to get through the House. I was actually just interested in the impeachment process of a cabinet member because obviously the House would vote on it. You'd have to have a majority, which Democrats do not right now. But a lot of folks are saying, if they start the process now midterm elections come in November, what if the Democrats suddenly get the balance of power it shifts.
00:02:04
Speaker 3: Then this resolution, these articles of.
00:02:07
Speaker 2: Impeachment could actually have a chance to move forward.
00:02:12
Speaker 3: That is what some have said.
00:02:16
Speaker 1: This is wild and it's wilder, and this gets a little more you get a little more worked up, a little more fired up about these things. It's because we are still in a shutdown, because we are at war. Because you know, this man is not going to get removed from his job. If you want to scream and holler and who and say, look, we want to draw attention to what we think he's doing wrong. Okay, let's talk. But if this is the way they know to go about manipulating, if you will, headlines, manipulating the media, manipulating the public for something that robes is that we know is going nowhere. Even the numbers you put together, it doesn't matter if the numbers change after the midterms, because they're not going to get the two thirds vote they need in the Senate ultimately to get him out of his position.
00:03:09
Speaker 3: Right, what are we doing?
00:03:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the House puts the articles of impeachment together, they vote it would then if it passed the House go to the Senate.
00:03:17
Speaker 3: The Senate then puts on.
00:03:18
Speaker 2: Basically a trial, so to speak, and they decide whether or not we've seen some of the cabinet never yes, is guilty or not guilty? And if found guilty, then you start the process of removing that person from their cabinet position. It's only happened twice in the history of the United States.
00:03:36
Speaker 3: So that's just how rare something like this is.
00:03:39
Speaker 1: Wait, what were they Neither was actually removed though they were impeached.
00:03:45
Speaker 2: Correct, the eight two cabinet officials have only two have been impeached. The Secretary of War William Belknapp in eighteen seventy six was impeached, and then recently in twenty twenty four, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcis.
00:04:00
Speaker 3: Totally forgot about this, I was I totally forget.
00:04:03
Speaker 2: He was impeached in twenty twenty four and ultimately acquitted in the Senate, but he was voted to be impeached in the House. I didn't realize it was that recent that we had that history being made. And look, it's not going to move to that level through the House as it stands right now.
00:04:20
Speaker 1: Jasiska, what is it? You know, I have a hard time keeping up. The number was two seventeen to two fourteen that Republicans had an advantage, correct, I can't remember that was before after the resignations of Gonzales and Swolwell, right. I actually don't know where we're sitting.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: So it's probably two sixteen to thirteen was that.
00:04:40
Speaker 1: I don't know if that was a pre or post resignation number. And I know other seats, you know, during the year, various times, different seats need to be filled. So but still the margin Republicans only have two or three seats margin. And look, their coalition doesn't always stay together as a majority.
00:04:57
Speaker 3: That is true, That is true.
00:04:59
Speaker 2: I'm curious what you think though about So they introduced six articles of impeachment and they get very specific.
00:05:07
Speaker 3: I'm just curious if this.
00:05:08
Speaker 2: Matters at all, the fact that they're pointing out grievances, things that they believe were and are either illegal or unconstitutional. So the first one is unauthorized war against Iran and reckless endagerment of US service members.
00:05:24
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, I guess it has to be listed. It's one of those things when somebody's on trial for murder and they throw in a shoplifting charge because it is one of those things. Fine, you just have to say that. Guy.
00:05:35
Speaker 2: I was curious because I thought the president is the one who authorizes the war. So I didn't know that the Defense Secretary could be held accountable for going to war ropes.
00:05:45
Speaker 1: Obviously it wasn't his decision.
00:05:47
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: Number two, violations of the Law of Armed conflict and targeting civilians. They referenced the girls' school that was hit. It wasn't targeted in this sense that they didn't know it was a girls school.
00:06:03
Speaker 1: It did not intentionally nobody intentionally went after a girls school.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: Okay, so that's number two.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: Number three negligence and reckless handling of sensitive military information guilty.
00:06:13
Speaker 1: Guilty guilt refers.
00:06:15
Speaker 3: To that group chat. We all remember the headlines.
00:06:17
Speaker 2: That was not once, but twice he was involving. Even an inadvertent member of the media and other members of his family suddenly were on these group chats where they were discussing sensitive I believe, real time military operations in Yemen.
00:06:33
Speaker 1: I wonder how often that happens. We only found out because he accidentally added a reporter to that chat, But I wonder.
00:06:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wonder if we would have ever found out otherwise. Probably not.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: Number four obstruction of Congressional oversight.
00:06:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think any of why.
00:06:50
Speaker 2: We haven't seen many members of the Trump administration consult with Congress first.
00:06:55
Speaker 1: They go up there after the fact and get into some shouting matches, but consulting ahead of.
00:07:00
Speaker 2: I've definitely seen that, all right. Number five abusive power and politicism. Okay, okay, politicis oh my gosh, I can't say that.
00:07:09
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you just hang with this one. That's a tough one.
00:07:11
Speaker 3: Politiciz is that politicization? I can't say it? Can you say it?
00:07:16
Speaker 1: I can?
00:07:16
Speaker 3: Can you please say it?
00:07:17
Speaker 1: For you?
00:07:19
Speaker 3: I need to hear someone else say it. Abusive power?
00:07:21
Speaker 1: And what is it?
00:07:22
Speaker 3: Politicization of the armed forces? I tried five times.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: Please help a girl out.
00:07:32
Speaker 3: Politic political?
00:07:34
Speaker 1: Is it?
00:07:35
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I can't say it. Okay, you're not even gonna try.
00:07:41
Speaker 1: It's very easy. I don't know.
00:07:42
Speaker 3: You're not talking.
00:07:43
Speaker 1: All right, you.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: Get what I was saying. I'll move on because you're not going to attempt it. Number six, conduct bringing disrepute upon the US and it's armed force.
00:07:54
Speaker 1: Okay, that's a high bar there.
00:07:56
Speaker 3: That's a very high disrepute. Yeah.
00:07:59
Speaker 2: I mean, look, they said that heg Seth has engaged in conduct that raises serious concerns and violations of the Geneva Conventions because he made comments about no quarter, no mercy for our enemies. So they're taking things from speeches and statements and they're using it against him and saying that this is not okay, that he is using vervigion language that is against the Geneva Conventions.
00:08:23
Speaker 1: All right? Is that six yeah, those are.
00:08:25
Speaker 2: The six the six articles of impeachment that they have levied against Pete Hegseth formally now in the House of Representatives.
00:08:34
Speaker 1: Okay, and when is this vote exactly? So they need a majority in the House. So you just need a majority of folks in there. So sure, maybe you would have every single Democrat vote for it. Do you have one or two or three Republicans who are like the hell with it? Do you have a few that aren't running for re election? Do you have a few don't mind going against the president in this?
00:08:59
Speaker 2: And I don't know, We don't know. We do know that the sponsor of the bill makes a lot of sense. Yasimin and sorry, the first Iranian American Democrat ever elected to Congress, she is. She sponsored this resolution and then twelve other Democrats signed the resolution. Now, in terms of who would vote for it, who would not vote for it, unclear right now, but pretty much by all accounts, no one thinks this has an actual shot of passing the House. And with that, when we come back, we will tell you what the official Trump administration response is to these articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseath. Welcome back, everyone, to this episode of Amy and TJ, where the headlines are everywhere Pete Hegseth is being or at least some members of the House are trying to impeach heg Seth for his conduct and certainly even waging the war against Iran. It's the first step in a process of removing a cabinet member, and it doesn't look like it has much of a chance of actually even getting out of that.
00:10:16
Speaker 1: It's one of my favorite parts of the Constitution, that phrase high crimes and misdemeanors, because it sounds because of the way it sounds, but also legal scholars forever have been arguing over what rises to that level. We always hear that debate and it's always interesting. So, ohok, this is a part of that. What constitutes a high crime. A lot of people said, even Clinton, what was happening didn't constitute a high crime.
00:10:43
Speaker 3: He was impeached too, and President Trump.
00:10:46
Speaker 1: So if nothing else, if nothing even comes of this rope, at least we got to schoolhouse rock this thing this morning.
00:10:51
Speaker 2: You know, I was even thinking classrooms could take the opportunity to even learn. I was learning about the process, and I never even realized to be honest, I knew that presidents could be impeached. We've clearly seen that in our lifetime a couple of times. But I didn't realize that cabinet members could be impeached. I didn't realize they fell under the same category. So the Trump administration response, This comes from the Pentagon Press secretary, and I think you heard some other snarky comments that were made, but this was the official statement. Just another Democrat trying to make headlines. As the Department of War decisively and overwhelmingly achieved the President's objectives in Iran, Secretary Hegsath will continue to protect the homeland and project peace through strength. This is just another charade in an attempt to distract the American people from the major successes we have had here at the Department of War.
00:11:47
Speaker 1: Some of that I was agreeing with, and then I said, oh, okay, back to the usual stuff. But yeah, a charade. You can see why those some of that which is being used. Look, a lot of the headlines. Just take this seriously, and it sounds very serious that Democrats have started an effort to remove the Defense secretary at a time of war. That's a significant headline, but it does deserve some context, but yes, it's it is a true story.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: And I am curious too, just because we are obviously at a time where we are at war and certainly have the world watching us, the world commenting on us, and not necessarily in the most positive of ways. I wonder how this headline, how news of what's happening when people don't really understand our system, maybe in even the political theater that's on full display right now, what that does, if that even lends itself to more rhetoric and more anti American sentiment, just pointing out the fact that we are divided even among ourselves.
00:12:47
Speaker 1: We sound like a hot mess over here during a time of war. You all are, actually some of your elected members are trying to get rid of your defense secretary while you're in the middle of war, Like, Yeah, what's going on with you guys over there in America?
00:12:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're trying to get rid of our defect secretary in the middle or our war secretary in the middle of a war. And our Department of Homeland Security remains unfunded. Also during a time before and really, when's the last time you've even seen.
00:13:11
Speaker 3: A headline regarding reopening the government?
00:13:15
Speaker 1: This Thursday. So Monday they came back and it was all about Swallowell and Gonzalees. Gotta deal with that. And what day are we on maybe sixty two, sixty three, sixty up the shutdown.
00:13:23
Speaker 2: People have even stopped counting, that's how desensitized we are. And look, now we know that employees are being paid, so the lines have gotten basically they weren't even lines when we were traveling this weekend. It's it's back to normal and then some. So, yeah, who's feeling the pain?
00:13:41
Speaker 3: Nobody?
00:13:42
Speaker 2: So Congress can just ignore the fact that we are not technically open for business, the very department that actually should be of the utmost importance right now while we're at war.
00:13:57
Speaker 1: So we should get hec set out of there. That'll make everything better. That's whe I get it to your Maybe there's some value there in highlighting or trying to get their messaging out, but to do it this way with a clearly pointless I say pointless in terms of just practical. If we say it's symbolic, fine, but it's just a matter of what the time being spent. And a lot of the folks who are sponsoring you should call them. What the usual suspects of Trump criticism.
00:14:28
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, the.
00:14:29
Speaker 2: People you would expect to sign their names to this resolution indeed have now. It will be curious you mentioned Pete Hexeth has a press conference an update on the war with Iran later today. We don't know in terms of who's allowed in the room in the Pentagon now, so you don't necessarily he doesn't necessarily get much pushback when it comes to those reporters questions.
00:14:50
Speaker 3: But it will be curious.
00:14:51
Speaker 2: I will be interested to see if he is asked about this and what his response to this latest development might be.
00:14:58
Speaker 1: But what do you say nothing that he has nothing to defend. I would even say nothing to worry about when it comes to this, and he knows that, so he'll probably get the question and it'll get It'll be a nice, underhanded, slow, lofty softball that he can just take a big old swing at and say whatever he wants to say.
00:15:17
Speaker 2: About the Democrats and the feudal attempts will at trying to grab headlines. All right, with that, everyone, thank you for listening to us. As always, Morning run is coming up in just a bit, so take a please take note of that. But we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roeboch alongside TJ.
00:15:33
Speaker 3: Holmes. We will talk to you very very soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, folks, it is Thursday, April sixteenth, and the Defense Secretary Pete Hexth is being accused of high crimes and misdemeanors and an effort is underway to remove him from his position as Defense Secretary. And it's an absolute waste of everybody's time. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I mean, I guess they could be doing this robes for symbolic reasons.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: Yes, the headlines all seem very scary and historic, and then when you start reading into exactly what's going on in Congress and how some folks are choosing to spend their time, it is fascinating. And look, they're getting headlines, they're getting attention, they're getting news articles written, they're getting people to look at Pete Hexit and his conduct as defensive.
00:00:54
Speaker 1: Tell me what the value is in that the guy that we see every single day, that we see executing this war that we see through he is very high profile, right visible member of this cabinet. He even has a press conference today going to be updating folks on the war in Iran. Okay, so doing this now what what?
00:01:15
Speaker 2: No?
00:01:15
Speaker 1: Really, what are they trying to do other than build up their own war chest to getting ready for a midterm, get some headlines, get some attention. I'm saying, I'm trying to find robes an actual the real value in doing this.
00:01:30
Speaker 3: I guess the value is to take a stand.
00:01:32
Speaker 1: I like your side public Yes, no, I hear you.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: But in terms of it actually being actionable this year, there's not a snowballs chance in hell that this is going to get through the House. I was actually just interested in the impeachment process of a cabinet member because obviously the House would vote on it. You'd have to have a majority, which Democrats do not right now. But a lot of folks are saying, if they start the process now midterm elections come in November, what if the Democrats suddenly get the balance of power it shifts.
00:02:04
Speaker 3: Then this resolution, these articles of.
00:02:07
Speaker 2: Impeachment could actually have a chance to move forward.
00:02:12
Speaker 3: That is what some have said.
00:02:16
Speaker 1: This is wild and it's wilder, and this gets a little more you get a little more worked up, a little more fired up about these things. It's because we are still in a shutdown, because we are at war. Because you know, this man is not going to get removed from his job. If you want to scream and holler and who and say, look, we want to draw attention to what we think he's doing wrong. Okay, let's talk. But if this is the way they know to go about manipulating, if you will, headlines, manipulating the media, manipulating the public for something that robes is that we know is going nowhere. Even the numbers you put together, it doesn't matter if the numbers change after the midterms, because they're not going to get the two thirds vote they need in the Senate ultimately to get him out of his position.
00:03:09
Speaker 3: Right, what are we doing?
00:03:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the House puts the articles of impeachment together, they vote it would then if it passed the House go to the Senate.
00:03:17
Speaker 3: The Senate then puts on.
00:03:18
Speaker 2: Basically a trial, so to speak, and they decide whether or not we've seen some of the cabinet never yes, is guilty or not guilty? And if found guilty, then you start the process of removing that person from their cabinet position. It's only happened twice in the history of the United States.
00:03:36
Speaker 3: So that's just how rare something like this is.
00:03:39
Speaker 1: Wait, what were they Neither was actually removed though they were impeached.
00:03:45
Speaker 2: Correct, the eight two cabinet officials have only two have been impeached. The Secretary of War William Belknapp in eighteen seventy six was impeached, and then recently in twenty twenty four, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcis.
00:04:00
Speaker 3: Totally forgot about this, I was I totally forget.
00:04:03
Speaker 2: He was impeached in twenty twenty four and ultimately acquitted in the Senate, but he was voted to be impeached in the House. I didn't realize it was that recent that we had that history being made. And look, it's not going to move to that level through the House as it stands right now.
00:04:20
Speaker 1: Jasiska, what is it? You know, I have a hard time keeping up. The number was two seventeen to two fourteen that Republicans had an advantage, correct, I can't remember that was before after the resignations of Gonzales and Swolwell, right. I actually don't know where we're sitting.
00:04:36
Speaker 2: So it's probably two sixteen to thirteen was that.
00:04:40
Speaker 1: I don't know if that was a pre or post resignation number. And I know other seats, you know, during the year, various times, different seats need to be filled. So but still the margin Republicans only have two or three seats margin. And look, their coalition doesn't always stay together as a majority.
00:04:57
Speaker 3: That is true, That is true.
00:04:59
Speaker 2: I'm curious what you think though about So they introduced six articles of impeachment and they get very specific.
00:05:07
Speaker 3: I'm just curious if this.
00:05:08
Speaker 2: Matters at all, the fact that they're pointing out grievances, things that they believe were and are either illegal or unconstitutional. So the first one is unauthorized war against Iran and reckless endagerment of US service members.
00:05:24
Speaker 1: Okay, fine, I guess it has to be listed. It's one of those things when somebody's on trial for murder and they throw in a shoplifting charge because it is one of those things. Fine, you just have to say that. Guy.
00:05:35
Speaker 2: I was curious because I thought the president is the one who authorizes the war. So I didn't know that the Defense Secretary could be held accountable for going to war ropes.
00:05:45
Speaker 1: Obviously it wasn't his decision.
00:05:47
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:05:47
Speaker 2: Number two, violations of the Law of Armed conflict and targeting civilians. They referenced the girls' school that was hit. It wasn't targeted in this sense that they didn't know it was a girls school.
00:06:03
Speaker 1: It did not intentionally nobody intentionally went after a girls school.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: Okay, so that's number two.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: Number three negligence and reckless handling of sensitive military information guilty.
00:06:13
Speaker 1: Guilty guilt refers.
00:06:15
Speaker 3: To that group chat. We all remember the headlines.
00:06:17
Speaker 2: That was not once, but twice he was involving. Even an inadvertent member of the media and other members of his family suddenly were on these group chats where they were discussing sensitive I believe, real time military operations in Yemen.
00:06:33
Speaker 1: I wonder how often that happens. We only found out because he accidentally added a reporter to that chat, But I wonder.
00:06:40
Speaker 3: Yeah, I wonder if we would have ever found out otherwise. Probably not.
00:06:44
Speaker 2: Number four obstruction of Congressional oversight.
00:06:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think any of why.
00:06:50
Speaker 2: We haven't seen many members of the Trump administration consult with Congress first.
00:06:55
Speaker 1: They go up there after the fact and get into some shouting matches, but consulting ahead of.
00:07:00
Speaker 2: I've definitely seen that, all right. Number five abusive power and politicism. Okay, okay, politicis oh my gosh, I can't say that.
00:07:09
Speaker 1: I'm gonna let you just hang with this one. That's a tough one.
00:07:11
Speaker 3: Politiciz is that politicization? I can't say it? Can you say it?
00:07:16
Speaker 1: I can?
00:07:16
Speaker 3: Can you please say it?
00:07:17
Speaker 1: For you?
00:07:19
Speaker 3: I need to hear someone else say it. Abusive power?
00:07:21
Speaker 1: And what is it?
00:07:22
Speaker 3: Politicization of the armed forces? I tried five times.
00:07:27
Speaker 2: Please help a girl out.
00:07:32
Speaker 3: Politic political?
00:07:34
Speaker 1: Is it?
00:07:35
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, I can't say it. Okay, you're not even gonna try.
00:07:41
Speaker 1: It's very easy. I don't know.
00:07:42
Speaker 3: You're not talking.
00:07:43
Speaker 1: All right, you.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: Get what I was saying. I'll move on because you're not going to attempt it. Number six, conduct bringing disrepute upon the US and it's armed force.
00:07:54
Speaker 1: Okay, that's a high bar there.
00:07:56
Speaker 3: That's a very high disrepute. Yeah.
00:07:59
Speaker 2: I mean, look, they said that heg Seth has engaged in conduct that raises serious concerns and violations of the Geneva Conventions because he made comments about no quarter, no mercy for our enemies. So they're taking things from speeches and statements and they're using it against him and saying that this is not okay, that he is using vervigion language that is against the Geneva Conventions.
00:08:23
Speaker 1: All right? Is that six yeah, those are.
00:08:25
Speaker 2: The six the six articles of impeachment that they have levied against Pete Hegseth formally now in the House of Representatives.
00:08:34
Speaker 1: Okay, and when is this vote exactly? So they need a majority in the House. So you just need a majority of folks in there. So sure, maybe you would have every single Democrat vote for it. Do you have one or two or three Republicans who are like the hell with it? Do you have a few that aren't running for re election? Do you have a few don't mind going against the president in this?
00:08:59
Speaker 2: And I don't know, We don't know. We do know that the sponsor of the bill makes a lot of sense. Yasimin and sorry, the first Iranian American Democrat ever elected to Congress, she is. She sponsored this resolution and then twelve other Democrats signed the resolution. Now, in terms of who would vote for it, who would not vote for it, unclear right now, but pretty much by all accounts, no one thinks this has an actual shot of passing the House. And with that, when we come back, we will tell you what the official Trump administration response is to these articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseath. Welcome back, everyone, to this episode of Amy and TJ, where the headlines are everywhere Pete Hegseth is being or at least some members of the House are trying to impeach heg Seth for his conduct and certainly even waging the war against Iran. It's the first step in a process of removing a cabinet member, and it doesn't look like it has much of a chance of actually even getting out of that.
00:10:16
Speaker 1: It's one of my favorite parts of the Constitution, that phrase high crimes and misdemeanors, because it sounds because of the way it sounds, but also legal scholars forever have been arguing over what rises to that level. We always hear that debate and it's always interesting. So, ohok, this is a part of that. What constitutes a high crime. A lot of people said, even Clinton, what was happening didn't constitute a high crime.
00:10:43
Speaker 3: He was impeached too, and President Trump.
00:10:46
Speaker 1: So if nothing else, if nothing even comes of this rope, at least we got to schoolhouse rock this thing this morning.
00:10:51
Speaker 2: You know, I was even thinking classrooms could take the opportunity to even learn. I was learning about the process, and I never even realized to be honest, I knew that presidents could be impeached. We've clearly seen that in our lifetime a couple of times. But I didn't realize that cabinet members could be impeached. I didn't realize they fell under the same category. So the Trump administration response, This comes from the Pentagon Press secretary, and I think you heard some other snarky comments that were made, but this was the official statement. Just another Democrat trying to make headlines. As the Department of War decisively and overwhelmingly achieved the President's objectives in Iran, Secretary Hegsath will continue to protect the homeland and project peace through strength. This is just another charade in an attempt to distract the American people from the major successes we have had here at the Department of War.
00:11:47
Speaker 1: Some of that I was agreeing with, and then I said, oh, okay, back to the usual stuff. But yeah, a charade. You can see why those some of that which is being used. Look, a lot of the headlines. Just take this seriously, and it sounds very serious that Democrats have started an effort to remove the Defense secretary at a time of war. That's a significant headline, but it does deserve some context, but yes, it's it is a true story.
00:12:15
Speaker 2: And I am curious too, just because we are obviously at a time where we are at war and certainly have the world watching us, the world commenting on us, and not necessarily in the most positive of ways. I wonder how this headline, how news of what's happening when people don't really understand our system, maybe in even the political theater that's on full display right now, what that does, if that even lends itself to more rhetoric and more anti American sentiment, just pointing out the fact that we are divided even among ourselves.
00:12:47
Speaker 1: We sound like a hot mess over here during a time of war. You all are, actually some of your elected members are trying to get rid of your defense secretary while you're in the middle of war, Like, Yeah, what's going on with you guys over there in America?
00:12:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're trying to get rid of our defect secretary in the middle or our war secretary in the middle of a war. And our Department of Homeland Security remains unfunded. Also during a time before and really, when's the last time you've even seen.
00:13:11
Speaker 3: A headline regarding reopening the government?
00:13:15
Speaker 1: This Thursday. So Monday they came back and it was all about Swallowell and Gonzalees. Gotta deal with that. And what day are we on maybe sixty two, sixty three, sixty up the shutdown.
00:13:23
Speaker 2: People have even stopped counting, that's how desensitized we are. And look, now we know that employees are being paid, so the lines have gotten basically they weren't even lines when we were traveling this weekend. It's it's back to normal and then some. So, yeah, who's feeling the pain?
00:13:41
Speaker 3: Nobody?
00:13:42
Speaker 2: So Congress can just ignore the fact that we are not technically open for business, the very department that actually should be of the utmost importance right now while we're at war.
00:13:57
Speaker 1: So we should get hec set out of there. That'll make everything better. That's whe I get it to your Maybe there's some value there in highlighting or trying to get their messaging out, but to do it this way with a clearly pointless I say pointless in terms of just practical. If we say it's symbolic, fine, but it's just a matter of what the time being spent. And a lot of the folks who are sponsoring you should call them. What the usual suspects of Trump criticism.
00:14:28
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, the.
00:14:29
Speaker 2: People you would expect to sign their names to this resolution indeed have now. It will be curious you mentioned Pete Hexeth has a press conference an update on the war with Iran later today. We don't know in terms of who's allowed in the room in the Pentagon now, so you don't necessarily he doesn't necessarily get much pushback when it comes to those reporters questions.
00:14:50
Speaker 3: But it will be curious.
00:14:51
Speaker 2: I will be interested to see if he is asked about this and what his response to this latest development might be.
00:14:58
Speaker 1: But what do you say nothing that he has nothing to defend. I would even say nothing to worry about when it comes to this, and he knows that, so he'll probably get the question and it'll get It'll be a nice, underhanded, slow, lofty softball that he can just take a big old swing at and say whatever he wants to say.
00:15:17
Speaker 2: About the Democrats and the feudal attempts will at trying to grab headlines. All right, with that, everyone, thank you for listening to us. As always, Morning run is coming up in just a bit, so take a please take note of that. But we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roeboch alongside TJ.
00:15:33
Speaker 3: Holmes. We will talk to you very very soon.