Hegseth shredded over following orders defense in press conference as he sought to defend actions
Hegseth defends military operations
At a rare press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday morning, Hegseth said operations involving Iran, cartels, former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Yemen had been lawful. He said Trump, as commander-in-chief, ordered them, and that Congress was notified before U.S. forces carried them out.
Critics invoke Nuremberg trials
Rick Wilson, co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, responded sarcastically online: “Worked great at Nuremberg.” He was referring to trials in which Nazi leaders were convicted of crimes committed under Adolf Hitler. Other online critics also invoked the trials. One account, Wu Tang is for the Children, said Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to be relying on a “just following orders” defense, while Democratic strategist Mike Nellis wrote that the argument would not serve Hegseth well. George Conway suggested that Hegseth’s reasoning could also implicate Trump if the president had directed or acted alongside him. An X user shared an AI-generated image of Trump, Hegseth and other administration officials at the trials, captioned “I was just following orders.”
Impeachment vote expected Tuesday
The House was scheduled to hold its first procedural vote on Hegseth’s impeachment articles later Tuesday. A Republican wrote on X that some members supported certain articles but not all of them. The Republican said that if a motion to refer the resolution to committee failed and the House proceeded to consider the articles, he would ask for a separate vote on each one. At an impromptu press conference, Trump defended Hegseth and called Massie a “stone-cold loser.”
Key points
- Hegseth said Trump ordered the military operations and that they were lawful.
- Online critics compared Hegseth’s remarks to the defense used by Nazi leaders at Nuremberg.
- The House was expected to take a first procedural vote on Hegseth’s impeachment articles Tuesday.
- A Republican said he would seek a separate vote on each article if the process continued.