Rep. Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and Army Ranger veteran, said Thursday that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is “failing at his job,” has “politicized our military,” “put our servicemembers in danger by recklessly sharing classified info,” and “started new forever wars,” concluding that “He’s got to go,” after President Donald Trump defended Hegseth as a “great warrior” in a Joint Base Andrews departure gaggle.
In a post on X, Crow wrote: “One more example of the President being completely out of touch. Pete Hegseth is failing at his job. He’s politicized our military, put our servicemembers in danger by recklessly sharing classified info, and started new forever wars. He’s got to go.” He was responding to Trump’s Oct. 29 remarks praising Hegseth. Trump made the remarks in a press gaggle before departing Joint Base Andrews on Air Force One.
A reporter asked Trump: “And are you worried about Democratic rhetoric about trying to impeach Pete Hegseth if they win?” Trump replied: “I think it’s terrible. All they do is they talk about impeaching everybody. I mean, honestly, if we wanted to play that game, we could play it just as well, but they’re talking about Pete Hegseth. He’s doing a great job. He’s a great warrior; I think he’s the best at his job in many, many years and a lot of people agree with that.”
Crow’s “recklessly sharing classified info” charge tracks the March 2025 Signal group-chat episode first reported by The Atlantic, when editor Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently included in a chat in which Hegseth and other officials discussed Yemen strike plans. Reuters reported the same day that top Trump officials had mistakenly divulged military plans to a journalist. The Pentagon inspector general’s later unclassified evaluation, Pentagon IG report DODIG-2026-021, found that Hegseth violated Defense Department rules by using a personal phone and an unapproved commercial messaging application for nonpublic official information, and that the chat contained sensitive operational details matching a SECRET//NOFORN CENTCOM email. The inspector general did not determine that Hegseth had shared information that remained classified, or that he had properly declassified it.
Crow’s charge that Hegseth “started new forever wars” refers to the Iran campaign that began with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Feb. 28. Congress has not declared war on Iran or passed an authorization for the use of military force for the campaign; Trump told Congress in a July 10 War Powers letter that he acted under his constitutional authority as commander in chief. The Defense Casualty Analysis System counted 22 U.S. deaths in the Iran operations as of Oct. 28.
Democratic pressure to remove Hegseth has intensified ahead of the midterms. Semafor reported Oct. 9 that House Democrats were aligning around Hegseth impeachment or forced resignation as a pressure valve short of a third Trump impeachment, citing Rep. Melanie Stansbury’s call to impeach Hegseth, Rep. Yassamin Ansari’s filed articles, and Rep. Thomas Massie’s Republican-authored ouster resolution that the House would be forced to take up. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said Hegseth should be fired and that Democrats “haven’t ruled anything out.”
Massie’s resolution, among other allegations, lays out charges of violating Congress’s war powers and carrying out extrajudicial killings, Semafor reported. Some Democrats have been reluctant to back a Republican-drafted measure before an investigative process; Armed Services ranking Democrat Adam Smith has signaled he could support it. Massie told Roll Call on Oct. 26 that he plans to force a House vote on his impeachment resolution the week of Nov. 9, after the midterm recess, “if he’s still in the job.”
The Pentagon has rejected the Democratic critique. In the Semafor report, press secretary Kingsley Wilson said: “Secretary Hegseth has slashed bureaucracy, unleashed innovation, and delivered for our warfighters every step of the way,” and that the department “is better under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s leadership than before.”
Crow, who sits on the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Oct. 25 that Hegseth “remains incompetent” and that ousting him is “my priority number one if we retake the majority.”
Crow’s judgments that Hegseth is failing at his job, has politicized the military and has started “forever wars” are his own; Trump and the Pentagon say Hegseth is doing a great job. The inspector general found that Hegseth broke department rules in the Signal episode and that the chat contained sensitive operational details, but it did not find that he shared information that was still classified, as Crow’s post asserts.