Pete Hegseth Visits Rhode Island as Impeachment Resolution Is Filed

“We’re not worried about that,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s visit to Rhode Island on Monday coincided with the filing of an impeachment resolution against him in Washington by Republican U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, WJAR reported.

Speaking to pool reporters on the tarmac at Quonset State Airport in Warwick before leaving the Ocean State, Hegseth defended his tenure at the Pentagon. He pointed to military operations in Iran, Venezuela, and blowing up alleged drug boats in the Caribbean as successes, while maintaining that President Donald Trump directs strategy.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in Rhode Island

“We are very proud of the President’s America first agenda, our peace through strength posture,” Hegseth said, according to WJAR. “So, if we want to litigate that, the success of those things, I’m happy to do it all day long.”

Hegseth also defended the war in Iran. “When the president says he’d do it again, I agree. It doesn’t have to be necessarily popular, but it can be necessary,” he said, adding, “You can’t let crazy Islamists have a nuclear bomb.”

Sen. Jack Reed talks potential impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

Reactions from Capitol Hill and Rhode Island

The visit drew sharp pushback from congressional leaders and local figures. Democratic U.S. Representative Gabe Amo posted on social media that he was going to work to make sure the Newport trip was “one of his last stops before we get rid of him. Time to go, Pete,” as reported by WJAR.

Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., told NBC 10 News that Hegseth is unqualified for the position. “He should resign. Or the president should urge him to resign. He does not have the temperament or even the experience to be Secretary of Defense,” Reed said.

‘Damaging’: Former Naval War College faculty discusses Hegseth’s speech

Reed, a West Point graduate and 82nd Airborne veteran in line to lead the Senate Armed Services Committee when Democrats take control of Congress in January, noted that an impeachment proceeding would originate in the House.

While Reed has not yet committed to a stance on impeachment, stating he would need to review the evidence, he argued that Hegseth should step down for the good of the country and the military.

Tom Nichols, a staff writer for The Atlantic, a prominent Trump critic who left the Republican Party, and a former 25-year instructor at the Naval War College, offered a harsh assessment of the Defense Secretary.

“The damage he’s done to the Pentagon, to morale, to civil-military relations in this country, the politicization of the military, I think he’s been an absolute disaster,” Nichols told NBC 10 News, as cited by WJAR.

LIVE: Pete Hegseth Visits Naval War College in Rhode Island | AC1N

Nichols also commented on Representative Massie’s impeachment resolution, telling NBC 10 News that the move carries more weight coming from a Republican than it would from Democrats.

The Naval War College Address

Hegseth’s primary stop in Rhode Island was the Naval War College in Newport, where he announced new measures tied to his anti-DEI mission and efforts to purge elements he does not like from the education of military leaders.

“Our military education system has become dangerously civilianized,” Hegseth said during his speech, as reported by WJAR. He accused service colleges of importing pathologies from contemporary civilian higher education over the past two decades.

He warned against institutional resistance at the college. “Most alarmingly, here at the Naval War College, our review identified a stubborn undercurrent of passive aggressive institutional resistance,” Hegseth said.