Trump still confident in Hegseth, but hints at 'a few' Cabinet changes
President Donald Trump said he's confident in Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth during his first interview after the GOP's major midterm losses, even as a Republican lawmaker is seeking the top Cabinet official's
impeachment.
Trump appeared in a "60 Minutes" interview with correspondent Ross Douthat, who asked the president if he planned to fire anyone in the wake of the midterms.
"I do, yeah, a little bit," Trump replied. "I love my Cabinet. I think they're good. But I'll be doing maybe a few changes." Douthat noted that the CBS crew saw Hegseth in a hall of the White House ahead of the interview.
Pete Hegseth says he will fight impeachment, defying calls to resign
So far, Republicans have lost seven Senate seats (results in Mississippi and Alaska are pending) and 42 House seats, one seat more than the party lost during Trump's first midterms in 2018. Midterms, typically difficult for the party that holds the White House, also traditionally lead to staff turnover in the West Wing and beyond.
According to CBS, the interview was conducted hours before Susie Wiles, Trump's White House chief of staff, announced her departure.
But it's Hegseth who has been the subject of bipartisan criticism from lawmakers after an attempt to livestream an execution and his use of a commercial messaging app to discuss a classified military operation. Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, an anti-war Trump foe, introduced articles of impeachment Sept. 15 against Hegseth over the Iran war.
When Douthat noted that some have called for Hegseth's resignation, Trump said "they do." Douthat then asked Trump if he remained confident in the former Fox News anchor.
"Look, we've won two wars. We've won Venezuela and taken out billions and billions and billions of dollars already," Trump said. He added, "And we will be taking out many billions of dollars and get along very well And, you could call it a territory, you could call it whatever you want."
Douthat asked Trump if he credited Hegseth for the Venezuela military operation, to which he responded, "No. But he was a part of it." Last January, the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and they remain in detention.
Hegseth has so far vowed to fight impeachment efforts by Massie, who was unseated in a primary race earlier this year when Trump endorsed his GOP challenger.
"We don't back down and that especially applies now," Hegseth said on Nov. 5 in a video address. "The next few months and years are critical for our department and our republic."
Contributing: Miles J. Herszenhorn