Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said on CNN's "Situation Room" Friday that Secretaries Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should "absolutely" be impeached — but that going after President Donald Trump is a waste of time because Democrats won't get the votes to remove him.
"We ought not be pursuing any impeachment of the president, because I don't think we can get the votes," Clyburn said, according to Breitbart's account of the broadcast. The South Carolina Democrat drew a distinction between the Cabinet secretaries and the president himself, arguing that removal efforts should target the administration's department heads rather than the Oval Office.
The comments come as Hegseth faces a renewed impeachment push in the House. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who lost his GOP primary after crossing Trump, said Wednesday he plans to reintroduce articles of impeachment against the Defense Secretary when lawmakers return to Washington on Monday, according to NBC News. Massie posted on X that his resolution is "a much gentler version of what's coming when Dem's control Congress," warning that Democrats will hold hearings and trials once they take the majority in January.
"There is one contingency in which I won't reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns," Massie wrote Wednesday.
Hegseth struck a defiant tone Thursday, dismissing the effort in a video statement as "sham articles of impeachment" from a "disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies."
"You see, they attack me. They attack us because we are effective," Hegseth said. "It's not going to work. We will not back down."
President Trump said Thursday he has "every intention" of keeping Hegseth, telling reporters at the White House that "Pete Hegseth has done a fantastic job." Rubio told The New York Times that working for Trump until the end of his term has "always been my plan."
The impeachment chatter follows Republican losses in this week's midterm elections. NBC News reported that Hegseth's handling of the Iran war — now in its ninth month — is a driving force behind the effort to remove him. Clyburn, in a separate interview with Politico's Dasha Burns on "The Conversation," said he would support expelling Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) from the Democratic Caucus after she endorsed Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers over Democratic Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan.
"I don't think that impeaching Trump with two years left should take up our time and our energy and the American people's attention," Clyburn told Politico, echoing his CNN comments.
Clyburn's split-screen position — demanding impeachment for Hegseth and Kennedy while waving off impeachment for Trump — lays bare the political calculation inside the Democratic Party as it prepares to take control of Congress in January. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), poised to become the next speaker, has indicated a desire to oust Hegseth since the midterm wins.
The push against Kennedy, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has centered on his overhaul of federal health agencies and vaccine policy. Clyburn did not detail specific grounds for impeaching either secretary during the CNN appearance.
For everyday Americans, the practical effect is a lame-duck session that could see a floor vote on Hegseth's removal as early as next week — followed by a Democratic-controlled Congress in January that has already signaled it will pursue the administration's Cabinet officials aggressively. Whether that translates into actual removals depends on Senate votes Clyburn himself acknowledges Democrats don't have.
Our Take
Leave it to James Clyburn to say the quiet part out loud: the impeachment push isn't about principle, it's about votes. The South Carolina Democrat just admitted on national television that going after President Trump is a waste of time because Democrats can't win — which tells you everything about how these political show trials actually work.
But notice what Clyburn did do. He gave cover to the impeachment of Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., two men doing exactly what the American people elected them to do: shaking up the Pentagon and the health bureaucracy. Massie, a Republican who lost his primary, is happy to help — proving once again that the D.C. establishment will always find a willing Republican to do its dirty work.
Hegseth is right: they attack him because he's effective. The Pentagon is being cleaned of woke ideology, and the HHS is being pulled back from the pharmaceutical capture that has defined it for decades. That's exactly why the Left wants them gone. Patriots should call their senators and tell them to stand firm against these sham articles. The only thing Clyburn understands is strength — and the only thing he respects is a fight he can't win.
