US midterms 2026 latest: Can Pete Hegseth survive impeachment?

Pete Hegseth says that efforts to impeachment him are nothing but a political spectacle that will ultimately sabotage American forces. The defense secretary is defending his position as one of the most powerful people in Donald Trump's inner circle. After a congressman from his own party filed articles of impeachment against Hegseth. You see, 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. Both times they failed. Let's be clear about what this resolution actually does. It tells our enemies, Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations. It tells them that a single rogue legislator loaded with personal animus for the president can attempt to veto national security decisions made by the duly elected commander-in-chief. It puts a target on the backs of American warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time. We have Alan Fisher at the White House and Patty Culhane on Capitol Hill. Alan, I want to start with you because Pete Hegseth, they're clearly going on the offensive. How worried should he be about possible impeachment? Well, this is the first news conference that the secretary of defense, secretary of war, as they call him in the Trump White House, has gone and held a news conference since. In six months. And you've got to remember that the United States has been at war all that time. He came out not talking about the war in Iran. This was about what he saw as an attack on him and an attack on the president. Now he says he's not guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. He tends to conflate what is happening to him to an attack on the ordinary soldiers and sailors who have been involved in the military operation. And a lot of the time. Several times, in fact, he mentioned the fact that he was following the orders from the commander in chief, essentially saying, I was doing what I was told to do. It's a defense that might not hold up if the impeachment process goes much further. But it's clear that he's rattled by a rogue congressman, as he continues to call him. But he is concerned about what's happening. And Patty, when you look at the articles of impeachment, this is about more than just the war in Iran. It really is. It's about the strikes on the boats that they say are carrying drugs. It's about strikes in Yemen. It's about the actions in Venezuela. And you hear people say that this was a disgruntled congressman. Let me unpack that for you a little bit. This was brought up by Representative Thomas Massie. See, he... was targeted by President Donald Trump in his primary. He lost, so he's not coming back in January. And that's why you see leadership here say, that's what this is about. He's just angry. That said, he tried to bring this up before the election. And Speaker of the House Mike Johnson was so worried that it could pass that he adjourned the House a full day. And if you talk to people up here on Capitol Hill, there is real anger at the job that Hegseth is doing. So a very slim majority of Republicans in the House, it could pass here, but it would be a much tougher case in the Senate. But I've been talking to people on Capitol Hill. What should happen to Hegseth? I hope it passes because this is a man who has led us into a war we didn't need, who has insulted our military, purged women who could have been giving him great advice, purged very, very seasoned leaders, and his crimes, in essence, against the American people by his mishandling of that department are grave. It's popular with Democrats. It's going to die in the Senate. It's just that simple. It doesn't really matter what happens in the House. The Secretary has committed no high crimes or misdemeanors. So, Alan, of course, this could have a long way to go. Far from a done deal would need to go to the Senate for a trial. But regardless of how this goes, how do you think this is going to impact the war in Iran? Well, not at all. I mean, at the moment, Donald Trump is giving Pete Hegseth his full support, saying after his news conference, he got an A plus plus plus from the president. J.D. Vance, the vice president, also sending out on social media effectively his support for Pete Hegseth. If there was to be any change, then. Remember, the policy is not driven by Pete Hegseth. As he made the point several times during his news conference, he does what he does at the direction of the commander-in-chief. So it still lies very much with Donald Trump, with his national security team, of which Pete Hegseth is a key member, but also Marco Rubio is a key member as well. So it won't really affect how the war in Iran is going unless Donald Trump decides it will affect how the war in Iran is going. Okay, Alan Fisher at the White House and Patty Culhane on Capitol Hill, thank you both very much. The Democrats now have a comfortable majority in both the Senate and in the House, but there's still two major Senate midterms races that remain to be called. Those are in Alaska and Mississippi. Our Alex Barrett explains where we are a week later. Alex? Yeah, so you're hearing all the news is moving on, but Mississippi and Alaska, they're still just waiting. So let's zoom in first on Mississippi. So you've got Mississippi there in the Deep South, 97%. Percent of the vote counted. Usually you'd be well past the point of having called this race, but you can see there this is still incredibly tight. Scott Colombe leading, though, just by about a few thousand votes, and he could make history. If he makes this race, he'll be the first black senator from Mississippi since the 1800s. But there is light at the end of the tunnel for Mississippi. There is a requirement, basically, to have a result by Friday. So watch for Friday, and we may finally find out who is the senator from Mississippi. But then there's also Alaska. Alaska has been an interesting one. We've got 76% of the votes counted and the date that we're having tipped for having a result out of here isn't until potentially November the 25th. So you could be waiting quite a while. And the president has waded once again into this race. Obviously, you know all about the Dan Sullivan fiasco. There are two Dan Sullivans on the ballot. Now the president's saying that if you take the votes from that secondary Dan Sullivan and add those votes to this Dan Sullivan, the incumbent Republican senator, He'd be winning this race, whereas right now it's the Democrat candidate, Mary Peltola. Regardless, it's going to take a while potentially to see what happens in Alaska, but at least in Mississippi soon, Alex. You'll be put out of your misery and you'll know exactly what's happened. But just give it a few more days. Just incredible that those two races are still so tight. Democrats didn't think not too long ago that they would even be able to compete there. Alex Baird, thank you very much for breaking that down for us. We know that you will continue watching both of those races very closely. I want to hand it back now. To our global headquarters in Doha.