Hegseth is set for his first Pentagon news briefing since May as he faces possible impeachment

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is scheduled to give his first news conference from the Pentagon in six months on Tuesday, just a day after a Republican lawmaker launched an effort to impeach him over his handling of the unpopular war against Iran and other actions.

The briefing will be Hegseth's first since May even as the U.S. military has kept up intermittent operations against the Islamic Republic as well as fatal strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in Latin America.

Hegseth, who has said the news conference would focus on the impeachment threat, is gearing up for a fight, having launched a social media blitz and saying he is ready to defend his and President Donald Trump's actions from “politically motivated people.”

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who lost his primary to a Trump-backed opponent, filed the impeachment resolution in the House on Monday. It sets the stage for a dramatic vote on whether to remove a prominent Trump administration figure following sweeping losses for Republicans in last week's midterm elections that many at least partly blamed on the Iran conflict and its economic impact.

The resolution largely focuses on the war in Iran but also includes references to Hegseth’s role in military actions in Yemen against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and Venezuela. Massie said Hegseth’s actions amount to “high crimes and misdemeanors” and his leadership at the Pentagon “warrants impeachment.”

A vote in the House could come by midweek, putting pressure on Republicans — many of whom blamed their election wipeout on the Iran war — but next steps are highly uncertain.

Trump has backed Hegseth, pointing to the raid to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January as well as military operations against Iran that he asserts have “obliterated” its navy and air force.

Iran, however, has been able to keep striking U.S. military bases in the Middle East and has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the course of the more than 8-month-old conflict, driving up global oil prices. Trump told reporters Monday that the Iran war “militarily is effectively over" and repeated his often-made claim that Iran “would love to make a deal.”

Hegseth also has been defending his stewardship of the U.S. military.

“There’s a lot of politically motivated people who may have substantial policy disagreements, but their disagreements are with success,” he told reporters Monday after a speech at the Naval War College in Rhode Island. 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.”

He also released a video on social media last week that argued impeachment would be “all about the politics of personal destruction” and that “won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that.”

Afterward, scores of Pentagon political appointees posted images of Hegseth emblazoned with the words, “Stand. Fight. Defend the Republic.”

Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, released a statement saying that “despite threats of sham witch hunts from Democrats,” Hegseth is “100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump’s term in office.”

FILE - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at an event for Anduril Industries, Inc., at Sparrows Point Shipyard, Oct. 6, 2026, in Sparrows Point, Md. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

FILE - Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth waits to welcome Britain's Defense Secretary Wes Streeting to the Pentagon during an arrival ceremony, Thursday, Oct 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

PARIS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his counterparts from the Group of Seven developed democracies are turning their attention toward Ukraine and how to support it in its struggle to defend itself from Russia.

As three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States got underway in the United Arab Emirates, top G7 diplomats were meeting Tuesday with Ukraine’s foreign minister in France.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha started his day in Paris in talks with Rubio before heading to the French foreign ministry for a larger group meeting with the entire G7. Neither man spoke as they posed for photos ahead of their discussion.

The State Department said afterwards in a brief statement that the pair had “discussed negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war, energy resilience, and defense cooperation.”

The larger meeting was expected to cover defense and security assistance to Ukraine, which the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has reduced, causing consternation not only in Kyiv but in capitals across Europe, the largest of which — Paris, Berlin, Rome and London — are G7 members.

It was not immediately clear if the U.S. or any of its G7 partners would announce any new assistance for Ukraine.

Meanwhile in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner began talks with Russian and Ukrainian officials in part to persuade Moscow to agree to broader negotiations that would include key European officials on how to end nearly five years of war.

In Paris, Europeans have been clamoring for a seat at the table in Abu Dhabi, but two U.S. officials said Monday that representatives from Britain, Germany, France, NATO and the European Union would not join the main talks but rather discuss potential security guarantees and the long-term security architecture between Russia and Europe beforehand.

Russia has resisted European participation in negotiations and insisted the talks should proceed strictly as a trilateral format involving Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. The three last held talks in February.

But on Monday in Paris, German Foreign Minister Johan Wadephul, who met separately with Rubio on the sidelines of the G7, was emphatic that Europe must be included.

“I am still very grateful to the United States of America for making every effort to get the parties to the conflict to the table,” he said. “But I made clear again here that Europe belongs at this table. There can be no solution without Europe, only with Europe.”

Rubio said the U.S. has no objection to eventual European involvement in the direct talks, but that it wasn’t yet time.

“Ultimately, it would be a positive, but we’ve got a ways to go,” he told reporters after a full day of group and bilateral meetings with G7 counterparts. “But, no, it’s good that they’re talking, it’s good that the trilateral talks are on again. It’s better than not having talks.”

On the eve of the talks, Russia battered Ukraine’s power grid again on Monday and Ukrainian forces hit another of Russia’s biggest oil refineries.

The two countries remain locked in battle with no sign that either side is ready to budge from their demands. The war has already killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians, analysts and humanitarian organizations say.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press after a meeting with France's President on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers summit, in Paris, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/ Pool Photo via AP)