War Secretary Pete Hegseth, facing eight articles of impeachment in a privileged House resolution, remains defiant amid kinetic war and political warfare.Hegseth said he stood behind military operations his department conducted in Iran, Venezuela and Yemen, saying they were lawful.”What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, it’s not accountability. It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” Hegseth said in a Tuesday morning conference. “Time for one man’s final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president, this country and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it.””It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt, and everybody knows it.”TRUMP DEFENDS PENTAGON CHIEF AS MASSIE TARGETS HIM: ‘HEGSETH SHOULD BE PRAISED, NOT IMPEACHED’President Donald Trump gave a real-time review of Hegseth’s defiant tone and remarks in a post Tuesday morning on Truth Social.”Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!” Trump wrote.Hegseth took a few questions at the news conference, mostly from conservative media outlets, but struck a warrior’s tone with his defense of his War Department and the operations during Trump’s first two years.”As for the articles themselves,” he continued, “Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen, every one was a lawful operation ordered by the commander in chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress and executed by American warriors who did their jobs.””We destroyed terror regimes’ capabilities. We sank the boats carrying poison into our communities. We put a narco dictator in handcuffs. These are not high crimes. This is the job, and it’s the job well done.”HEGSETH IMPEACHMENT VOTE LOOMS AS HOUSE REPUBLICANS PRIVATELY WARN IT COULD PASS”I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow,” he added.Hegseth said the effort hands U.S. enemies a “propaganda victory.””This is not patriotism; this is sabotage. It tells our enemies that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations,” Hegseth added.Impeachment has been one-side against Trump, he noted, saying past presidents have been immune amid past war efforts.”No Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations and, in our case, successful ones at that,” Hegseth said. “Not once – war powers resolution or not. “Not under Reagan in Lebanon, not under Clinton in Kosovo, not under Obama in Iraq and Syria, not under Biden in Iraq and Syria. That’s the standard. The history is clear, and it’s very straightforward. And one disgruntled congressman wants to shred it over policy disagreements.”HEGSETH’S FUTURE DRAWS OMINOUS PREDICTIONS FROM INSIDERS AFTER GOP LOSSES, BUT TRUMP ISN’T BUDGING YETThis sets a dangerous precedent of weaponization impeachment “over policy disagreements” for Soviet-like “show trials,” according to Hegseth.”That’s what it is: Policy disagreements,” he continued. “Not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause.”The proper remedy for a policy disagreement: It’s legislation; it’s debate; it’s the next presidential election. It’s not handing the House and Senate floor to the Democrats so that they can run a show trial against the president and the secretary of war.”Democrats flipped Congress in the midterms and did not even wait a week to start new rounds of impeachment efforts targeting Trump, Hegseth noted.”We’ve seen this show before: They impeached President Trump over a perfect phone call; they impeached him again in his final week in office,” he said. “Both times they failed. Both times he came back stronger and the American people sent him back to the White House. “Now they’re trying a third time, this time against a member of his Cabinet. They will fail again. And if standing with President Trump puts me in that company, I’ll take that company every day of the week.”Trump defended Hegseth against Massie’s impeachment effort in a Truth Social post Monday night, too.Trump said his war secretary “should be praised, not impeached.””Defeated Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a total loser, is trying to Impeach perhaps the most popular and successful military official in the Country, Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth,” Trump declared Monday on Truth Social.”With recruitment at an ALL-TIME HIGH, from an all-time low under Sleepy Joe Biden, and TWO VICTORIES, Venezuela and Iran, Pete Hegseth should be praised, not Impeached. Congress, stand up for Pete!!!” he added.