MUNICH (AP) — Bayern Munich powerbroker Uli Hoeneß has cast doubt on Jamal Musiala’s ability to return to the player he was before he was diagnosed with a neurological dysfunction.
Hoeneß — Bayern’s honorary president after more than four decades at the club as a player and manager — also questioned whether the 23-year-old Musiala could justify his high salary per the agreement they reached before his on-field seizures in August.
“He has a condition that cannot be easily cured, though it can be managed to some extent with medication. But whether he will ever regain the level of performance he once had …,” the 74-year-old Hoeneß told local broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk on Sunday.
“Yet he continues to receive his pay. Just imagine if FC Bayern were to call his contract into question, arguing that his current level of performance no longer aligns with the terms of the agreement.”
Musiala is among the top-earners at Bayern after extending his contract last year through June 2030.
“People go to the stadium for players like Jamal Musiala. He’s a truly exceptional player,” Bayern president Herbert Hainer said at the time.
But Musiala has been unable to shine this season after collapsing during preseason games in August. He posted on social media that he was diagnosed with “absence seizures caused by a neurological dysfunction,” that it wasn’t a risk to his health, and he intended to keep playing.
Bayern board member for sport Max Eberl and coach Vincent Kompany said they had been aware of the issue for at least a year and that a change in medication caused the Bayern star to collapse.
Musiala returned to team training and scored the opening goal in Bayern’s 5-0 Champions League win over Bodø/Glimt in September.
But he sustained a torn muscle fiber in his right thigh during warmups while on international duty that month and has yet to return. Musiala has made only four appearances across all competitions for Bayern this season.
See AP’s full soccer coverage here
FILE - Bayern's Jamal Musiala warms up during the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Schalke 04 and Bayern Munich in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Sept. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
FILE - Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeness talks to journalists as he arrives for a welcome at the town hall where the players celebrate winning the Bundesliga title downtown Munich, Germany, May 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Thomas Massie moved Monday to force a vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, pressing his fellow Republicans to remove one of the Trump administration's most prominent figures following sweeping election losses blamed in part on fallout from the war in Iran.
Massie, a Kentucky Republican, read the impeachment resolution from the House floor just hours after it opened for the first day of sessions after the midterms. It largely focuses on the war in Iran but also includes references to Hegseth’s role in carrying out military actions in Yemen and Venezuela.
The congressman, who was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in a primary earlier this year, said Hegseth's actions amounted to “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Hegseth, he said, “knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders” and “remains a threat to the Constitution.”
A vote in the House could come by mid-week, but next steps are highly uncertain. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries supports the measure. If most Democrats follow him, Massie would only need support from a few Republicans to impeach Hegseth.
If the House votes to impeach, it would fall to to the Senate to either dismiss the charges or hold a trial. Republicans remain in the majority in both chambers, until the new Congress convenes in January with Democrats in control.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, endorsed the impeachment push. "Hegseth must stand trial before the Senate," he said.
Republican leaders, who are eager to use their final weeks in power executing their own agenda, expressed frustration at the move. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has tried to prevent the vote, said impeachment “in the middle of hostilities abroad would be a terrible, terrible look, a terrible thing for our allies and our enemies to see that.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wasn’t sure why the vote was being held now.
“We’ll see what their ultimate decision is over there,” he said of the House. “We’ll have to deal with it accordingly here."
Hegseth is stepping up his public statements ahead of the vote, telling reporters that he's eager to defend the military actions that he and President Donald Trump have taken against Iran, Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and Venezuela's previous leaders.
After giving a speech at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, he brushed aside the impeachment push.
“There’s a lot of politically motivated people who may have substantial policy disagreements, but their disagreements are with success,” he told reporters. He added that “if we want to litigate” the military actions that the Trump administration has taken, “I’m happy to do it all day long.”
Asked about Vice President JD Vance blaming the Iran war for the massive GOP losses in the election, Hegseth noted that Trump said he would do it again, and “I agree.”
Hegseth also announced that he would hold a rare news conference on Tuesday — his first in over 180 days — on the impeachment threat.
Hegseth argued that the war was necessary because “someone had to confront the Iranian regime’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon” and said “the choice was don’t act and wish it away or take a bold move."
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has 440.9 kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Trump defended Hegseth to reporters on Sunday night.
“He’s guilty of two things, basically winning two wars,” Trump said. “I believe we saved the Middle East and Israel combined. And it’s awfully hard to say let’s impeach somebody who did that.”
Hegseth reiterated that “Iran is devastated,” even though the Islamic Republic has been able to keep striking military bases in the Middle East that are used by the United States, causing billions of dollars in damage, as well as commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Disruptions to shipping in the waterway, where one-fifth of the world's oil passed before the war, have led to higher energy prices that hit voters' pocketbooks.
Hegseth's defense of the war comes after about 6 in 10 voters said the U.S. made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against Iran, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 voters in the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended his fellow Cabinet secretary, saying that he believes Hegesth has been doing “a great job” and that its unfair that a Republican is pushing the impeachment effort.
“I work with him. And so I see perhaps a side of him that the media doesn’t see and members of Congress may not see,” Rubio told reporters at the Group of Seven industrialized democracies gathering in Paris. “But I think Pete works really hard. He’s incredibly smart.”
Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Lisa Mascaro, Joey Cappelletti and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth leaves after attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Defense Ministers' Meeting in Cebu, central Philippines, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, Pool)
