Pod Save America Host Dan Pfeiffer Backs Impeaching Pete Hegseth but Not Trump

Dan Pfeiffer, a co-host of Pod Save America, said on Friday's episode that he would back impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if Democrats win control of Congress in November. He said so even though he has argued against putting Democrats' energy into impeaching President Donald Trump.

"I agree with you. I'm all for it," Pfeiffer said. He was answering Pod Save America co-host Jon Lovett, who had just said he was "very much on the impeach Pete Hegseth train if we take back Congress." Pfeiffer then drew a line between the defense secretary and the president. "As deserving as it is, impeaching Trump is not the best use of our time and energy. But in Pete Hegseth, I'd be for that," he said.

The exchange came as the hosts reacted to Trump's decision on Thursday to cancel Hegseth's plan to livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. It also raises a question Democrats would face quickly with a majority: whether to go after the president's Cabinet, the president himself, or neither.

Why Pod Save America Wants Pete Hegseth Impeached

Pfeiffer traced the case back to the decision to go to war with Iran, which he called "probably the original sin in this." Lovett said that if Democrats win, the war would be "one of the biggest issues," and put the blame on Hegseth: "He's the one who got us into the war."

Lovett went further. He called Hegseth a war criminal over the military's strikes on boats in the Caribbean, arguing that the boats destroyed had been carrying civilians. That is his accusation: Hegseth has not been charged with any crime, and no court has ruled on the strikes. The boat campaign began in September 2025 and had killed at least 199 people by late May, the Associated Press reported. The administration says the U.S. is at war with Latin American drug cartels. Legal experts have said that striking survivors of a first attack would break the laws of armed conflict.

The Hasan Livestream Reversal

Hegseth's plan called for the Army's firing-squad execution of Hasan, set for December 3, to be streamed online. Trump called it off on Truth Social on Thursday. He wrote that streaming it "might have been a strong deterrent" but that "many very good and well meaning people would rather not watch him die," Time reported. Retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis had already called the plan "performative".

Jon Favreau, who co-hosts the show with Pfeiffer and Lovett, said Trump backed down "after most Democrats and some Republicans expressed discomfort with that obviously horrific idea." The public largely agreed. An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll of 2,545 adults found that 80 percent said the execution should not be livestreamed.

Where Congressional Democrats Stand on Impeachment

The hosts would not be the first to target Hegseth. Arizona Democrat Yassamin Ansari filed articles of impeachment against Hegseth on April 15 with eight Democratic co-sponsors. They cover the Iran war, alleged war crimes and the Signal chat leak. Michigan Democrat Shri Thanedar had filed articles in December over the boat strikes.

The most serious attempt so far came from a Republican. Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie introduced a privileged resolution in September to impeach Hegseth over his handling of the Iran conflict. House Speaker Mike Johnson then sent members home early, putting off any vote until after Election Day. "It's time for our members to go home to their districts," Johnson said, denying that the early adjournment was about the Hegseth vote.

On Trump, Democratic leaders have kept their options open. "We haven't ruled anything out when it comes to all of the tools available to us to hold people accountable, and we haven't ruled anything in," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in September, Colorado Politics reported. That same week, 18 House Democrats joined Republicans to block Representative Al Green's push to impeach the president.

What Happens Next

Democrats lead by 8.1 points in PolitiKool's polling average of the generic congressional ballot. Trump's approval stands at 38 percent in PolitiKool's polling average.

Even with a House majority, removing Hegseth would take a two-thirds vote in the Senate. Pfeiffer said he expected the same limit he sees with Trump. "I mean, it's the same problem that I don't think it's gonna result in him being removed," he said. Before any of that, the current House still owes Massie his vote when it returns in November.