Trump on Democrats' push to impeach Hegseth: "He's guilty of two things, basically winning two wars"

President Trump on Sunday brushed off Democratic talk of impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying the only thing Hegseth is guilty of is winning.

Asked by reporters in West Palm Beach, Florida, about Democrats saying they want to impeach Hegseth and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump said Democrats "gotta get back to the country" and called the two men "very fine people."

"So when you say about Pete Hegseth, I mean, he's guilty of two things, basically winning two wars," Trump said. "And the second war, we knocked out their nuclear capacity and probably saved Israel and probably saved the Middle East. I believe we saved the Middle East and Israel combined. And it's awfully hard to say, let's impeach somebody who did that."

Trump pointed to the operation in Venezuela, which he said was won "in 48 minutes," and to the Iran war, saying Iran is "never gonna have a nuclear weapon." He said the strikes left Iran unable to rebuild its nuclear program, and that without them "there would be no Israel right now."

He also turned the question back on Democrats, asking why they never impeached former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after the Afghanistan withdrawal, when 13 U.S. service members were killed at the Kabul airport.

Asked separately whether he still has confidence in Hegseth, Trump answered: "I do."