It's a sabotage": Hesset addressed the impeachment efforts in his first press conference in more than 180 days.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday at the Pentagon, Hesseth condemned the efforts led by outgoing Thomas Massey, saying they marked the first time a war or defense secretary had been punished for winning military conflicts.
"In the 250 years of our American Republic, no Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense has ever been impeached for conducting legal, and in our case, successful, military operations. Not once," he stated.
"Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen, they were all a legal operation ordered by the commander-in-chief, then ordered by me, notified to Congress and executed by American soldiers doing their jobs," he later added. "For the first time in American history, a secretary of state overseeing America's military is under attack not for losing conflicts with our enemies, but for winning them. ".