CNN’s Kaitlan Collins has revealed growing anxiety inside Donald Trump’s White House over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s future, warning that some Republicans could turn against him following the party’s devastating midterm election losses.
Speaking with Anderson Cooper on Monday, Collins said the administration was confronting the possibility that Hegseth could face impeachment after Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduced eight articles against him.
“That is a very real prospect that the White House and the defense secretary are both staring down right now,” Collins said.
According to her sources, White House officials are concerned about how Republican lawmakers will respond after the party lost control of both chambers of Congress.
“Inside the White House, people have been talking about what to do here, and what the next step of this is going to look like because their fear is, given how many Republicans lost their elections last week, that a lot of them aren’t showing up here in Washington, back for this session of Congress the last few weeks that they have,” Collins explained.
She also revealed concerns that Republicans angered by the Iran war might support Massie’s impeachment effort.
Some lawmakers, Collins said, “understand how angry voters are about the Iran War so they might actually be willing to vote for this [impeachment]. And Thomas Massie… might actually be able to get enough votes here.”
But Collins disclosed another significant development inside Trump’s inner circle.
Hegseth’s position may have strengthened following the appointment of Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles.
Collins described Miller as a close Hegseth ally and said Wiles had been far less supportive of the defense secretary.
Wiles, she explained, “was someone who had not been as confident in Pete Hegseth’s leadership at the Pentagon.”
“And I was actually told that their relationship had gotten pretty shaky in the last couple of weeks and months.”
The revelations suggest that Hegseth’s political survival could depend partly on shifting alliances inside the administration, even as the president continues publicly defending him.
Earlier Monday, Collins directly asked Trump whether he would stand by Hegseth if he were impeached.
“Yeah, I’ll stand by him,” Trump replied.
But when Collins pressed him about Massie’s allegations, the president launched into a personal attack.
“Massie’s a loser. Just like you’re a loser at CNN. Just like your ratings are a loser.”
Collins later aired the confrontation on her CNN program, The Source, without directly responding to Trump’s insults.
“This is what the president said when I asked him about those efforts to impeach Hegseth,” she told viewers.
Meanwhile, Collins revealed that a White House source had interpreted a nearly six-minute video released by Hegseth defending himself against impeachment as evidence that the defense secretary was worried.
The source believed the video showed “that he is actually concerned about this, that he felt that he had to put that video out.”
Hegseth dismissed the impeachment articles as a “sham” brought by a “disgruntled, defeated Congressman.”
But Massie appeared undeterred.
During an appearance on Collins’ show Monday, the Kentucky Republican was asked about Trump’s promise to stand by Hegseth.
“They stand by them until the day they don’t,” Massie responded.
He predicted a “high probability” that Hegseth would no longer be defense secretary by the end of the year.
Asked whether he believed Hegseth might resign before facing impeachment, Massie offered an extraordinary warning.
“First of all, impeachment is actually a kind of polite thing. I’m not proposing he go to prison… we’re just saying you need to be out of a job right now.”
Then he pointed to the incoming Democratic majority.
“When the Democrats get control in January, they are not going to be as polite as I am.”
Collins asked whether Massie was effectively telling Hegseth to leave before Democrats take power.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Massie replied.
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