The Pentagon addressed rumors that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is eyeing Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s seat if she becomes Tennessee governor.

According to Puck, Hegseth may attempt to convince Blackburn to appoint him to the seat.

Blackburn would have to vacate the Senate seat if she wins the governorship in The Volunteer State.

More from HuffPost:

Blackburn is likely to win her race for Tennessee governor, opening up the post for the rest of her term, which ends in January 2031.

Hegseth and his family set up residence in Tennessee in 2022. Rep. Tim Burchett is also interested in the Senate seat, according to Puck.

ADVERTISEMENT

The House is expected to vote on an impeachment resolution filed by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.) against Hegseth after the election ― and it is expected to be close. Democrats have been “aligning to call for the defense secretary’s ouster or resignation,” Semafor reported earlier this month.

The progressive advocacy group MoveOn told HuffPost there might more momentum toward impeaching the secretary than President Donald Trump.

“There’s a lot of ways to hold folks accountable. I think impeachment is one of them, and I think just from the perspective of our members at MoveOn, our members don’t want to take any of those options off the table,” spokesperson Joel Payne said.

Massie confirmed that he would reintroduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth if he’s still Secretary of War after Congress returns.

The Pentagon dismissed the rumors as “beltway gossip.”

“These speculations are nothing more than beltway gossip by anonymous sources,” Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told The Independent.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Secretary Hegseth’s singular priority is leading the War Department and delivering on the President’s America First agenda,” Wilson added.

“We are solely focused on peace through strength and ensuring our warfighters have everything they need to be successful. We are proud to serve our warriors,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said when asked about Hegseth’s future, according to the outlet.

The Independent shared further:

Democrats are understood to be looking ahead to the prospect of regaining the majorities in the House of Representatives and perhaps even the Senate in November and weighing how best to hold a wounded Trump administration to account.

ADVERTISEMENT

Targeting Hegseth over his controversial stewardship of the Pentagon, which has been defined by mass firings and culture war sparring and culminated in a disastrous war with Iran, is one way they might go about attacking the president by proxy.

It was reported last week that the opposition has already been sounding out prospective whistleblowers, who are said to be eager to “spill their guts” on the secretary as part of any future probe into his tenure.

Any investigation is likely to involve the House Oversight Committee, the Judiciary Committee and the Armed Services Committee and could revolve around last year’s “Signalgate” scandal, in which Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a group chat with senior Cabinet officials in which sensitive information was shared and discussed.

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.