Pete Hegseth went from weekend Fox News host to Secretary of Defense in January 2025. In the fourteen months since, he has overseen the bombing of a girls' school that killed at least 175 children, torpedoed an Iranian warship in international waters and left the crew to drown, quoted Pulp Fiction at a Pentagon prayer service to bless the war, and remained a devoted disciple of a pastor who defends slavery and wants to strip women of the right to vote. House Democrats have filed six articles of impeachment against him. Here's the record.
He bombed a school full of children
On February 28, 2026, during the opening salvo of U.S. and Israeli operations against Iran, an American airstrike hit a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran. At least 175 people were killed. Most of them were children.
The Pentagon's own preliminary investigation found the strike was a targeting mistake. Officers at U.S. Central Command had used outdated intelligence data in the planning process and were unaware that the school building was no longer part of an adjacent military base. They used Palantir's AI targeting software, which relies in part on Anthropic's AI systems, software that Hegseth has been pushing to put at the center of American combat operations.
Trump initially tried to blame Iran for bombing its own school. Hegseth refused to back that claim, but he also refused to take responsibility. Instead, he dismantled the Pentagon's civilian harm reduction office, the very office designed to prevent exactly this kind of atrocity. Human Rights Watch called for the attack to be investigated as a war crime. Senate Democrats have pressed for answers. Hegseth has provided none.
He sank a warship in international waters and left the crew to die
On March 4, 2026, a U.S. submarine torpedoed the Iranian warship IRIS Dena in international waters off the coast of Sri Lanka. The ship was returning from routine naval exercises in India. It was not engaged in combat. It was not a threat.
Hegseth bragged that it was the first such attack on an enemy vessel since World War II. What he didn't mention was that U.S. forces made no effort to rescue survivors. Sri Lanka's navy mounted a rescue operation and pulled 32 Iranian sailors from the water. They recovered 87 bodies. Sixty-one crew members are still missing.
Common Dreams reported widespread condemnation, with critics calling the sinking of a "defenseless" ship "cowardly and despicable." Under international law, attacking a vessel not engaged in hostilities and failing to rescue survivors are both potential war crimes. Hegseth treated it as a photo op.
He quoted Pulp Fiction at a Pentagon prayer service
On April 15, 2026, Hegseth held his second monthly worship service at the Pentagon to bless the Iran war. During the service, he recited what he presented as a prayer used by a Combat Search and Rescue team in Iran, "CSAR 25:17", which he said was "meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17."
It was the fake Bible verse from Pulp Fiction. The one Samuel L. Jackson's hitman character recites before executing people. Hegseth read a slightly modified version, swapping out a few words to make it sound military, and called for "great vengeance and furious anger" against Iran.
This is the Secretary of Defense of the United States quoting a Quentin Tarantino movie at a prayer service to bless a war that has killed thousands of people. The verse isn't even real scripture, it was written for a movie about contract killers. Variety, Rolling Stone, and the Hollywood Reporter all confirmed the quote. The man running the Pentagon can't tell the difference between the Bible and a 1990s crime film.
His spiritual mentor defends slavery and wants to strip women of the vote
Hegseth is a member of Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, a church in the network founded by Pastor Doug Wilson. Hegseth has called Wilson a "spiritual mentor" and said he is a "disciple" of Wilson's teachings.
Here is what Doug Wilson believes and has written publicly: Slavery produced "genuine affection between the races" in the South. Homosexuality should be a crime. Women should not vote, the 19th Amendment was a mistake. Women cannot hold church leadership positions. Married women must submit to their husbands. The United States should be a Christian theocracy.
Wilson was invited to lead a Pentagon prayer service in February 2026. Democratic congresswomen, including military veterans, demanded Hegseth apologize and resign after he reposted a video promoting Wilson's Christian nationalist church. He refused.
This isn't a fringe association. Hegseth explicitly claims Wilson as his spiritual guide. He attends a church in Wilson's network. He invited Wilson into the Pentagon. The man overseeing the world's most powerful military takes his moral guidance from a pastor who thinks slavery was good for Black people and women shouldn't be allowed to vote.
Six articles of impeachment
On April 15, 2026, House Democrats introduced six articles of impeachment against Hegseth. The charges include running an unauthorized war without congressional approval, violations of the law of armed conflict including the Minab school bombing, reckless handling of classified information in the Signalgate scandal, obstruction of congressional oversight, politicization of the armed forces, and conduct bringing disrepute upon the U.S. military.
The impeachment won't go anywhere while Republicans hold the House. But the record is now on paper. Pete Hegseth was a Fox News weekend host who got the job because Trump liked his TV segments. He has used that job to bomb children, sink ships, quote movies at prayer services, and take spiritual guidance from a man who defends slavery. He is exactly what happens when you hand the Pentagon to a cable news personality with no qualifications and no conscience.
Sources
- Human Rights Watch, Was the Attack on an Iranian Primary School a War Crime?
- The Intercept, U.S. Military Refuses to Endorse Trump Claim That Iran Bombed Girls' School
- Asia Times, Hegseth pressed on use of AI targeting in bombing of Iran school
- Common Dreams: Hegseth Condemned for Sinking of 'Defenseless' Iranian Ship
- TIME, U.S. Sinks Iranian Warship With Torpedo
- Variety, Pete Hegseth Quotes 'Pulp Fiction' Fake Bible Verse at Pentagon Prayer Service
- Rolling Stone: Hegseth Quotes Fake 'Pulp Fiction' Bible Verse, Compares Trump to Jesus
- CNN: Hegseth invited pastor who calls for Christian theocracy to lead Pentagon prayer service
- PBS, What to know about the archconservative church Pete Hegseth attends
- Religion Dispatches, The Most Dangerous Part of Pete Hegseth's Background
- Axios: House Democrats introduce 6 articles of impeachment targeting Pete Hegseth
- The Hill: Pete Hegseth faces impeachment articles over Iran war
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