WASHINGTON — An embattled GOP congressman says he’s eager to brawl on Pete Hegseth’s behalf in the wake of his fellow Republican, Rep Thomas Massie (KY) dropping impeachment articles against the embattled defense secretary this week.
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“I will f—— punch someone in the face for talking about Hegseth,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) told Raw Story just outside the U.S. Capitol.
On Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House of Representatives home early ahead of November’s elections, which critics say was to avoid an impeachment vote that would have twisted many vulnerable MAGA-aligned incumbents in knots.
But Van Orden says he’s ready for a public Hegseth debate.
“If these morons are talking s— about Pete, you know, they’re barking up the wrong tree,” the former Navy SEAL said.
In the surprise impeachment resolution Massie dropped earlier this week, the Kentucky Republican begs to differ with his fellow party members.
Massie accuses Hegseth of “murder” for the Pentagon’s extrajudicial killings of alleged drug dealers in the Caribbean, while also contending American special forces were ordered to unlawfully invade Venezuela and kidnap “a sovereign foreign leader,” President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
The seven-term libertarian — who lost his primary to a Trump-backed opponent earlier this year — also accuses Hegseth of conducting an “illegal war in Iran,” an allegation Van Orden dismisses out of hand.
“Operation Midnight Hammer, absolute resolve. The greatest special operations mission in the history of special operations,” Van Orden said of the Pentagon’s 2025 strike on three Iranian nuclear facilities. “And they prevented Iran from having a nuclear weapon by pulling off the most amazing air raid in the history of air raids.”
After that June 2025 operation, Hegseth and Trump claimed the operation “completely obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Then, in February 2026, the duo told the world that America joined Israel in preemptive strikes against Iran to ensure the Middle Eastern nation could never attain a nuclear weapon.
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While critics say Trump and Hegseth’s dueling claims negate each other, Van Orden is singing the administration’s talking points.
“So it’s incredible,” Van Orden said. “The amount of effort that Pete Hegseth has put into this job is absolutely, it’s insane how good it is.”
“Thomas Massie has lost the bubble,” Van Orden added, while starting his Harley-Davidson just off the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
“Thomas Massie has done more damage to the Republican Party than any Democrat in Congress.”
House lawmakers would have been forced to vote on Massie’s resolution to impeach Hegseth Thursday, but after Johnson’s surprise shutdown of the House Wednesday, they now won’t vote until after the midterm elections.
“Some folks are saying [the cancellation] is because of Massie’s impeachment against Hegseth?” Raw Story pressed.
“I have no idea,” Van Orden said.
“But wouldn’t a lot of you, like, want to stand up for Hegseth?” Raw Story asked Van Orden.
“I have no idea,” Van Orden said.
“He has changed the culture of the Department of War to focus on war,” Van Orden told Raw Story. “Anybody that’s talking s*** about him doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
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