John Oliver is joining the growing chorus calling for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s impeachment—and he’s not mincing words.
On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, the HBO host devoted his main segment to Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon, detailing what Oliver described as a long history of warning signs, questionable personnel decisions, and military operations that have cost civilian lives.
“There’s clearly damage here that can’t be undone, but the very least we can do is try and stem it by impeaching and removing this f*cking asshole as soon as possible,” Oliver said. “And ideally, in a way that also ensures he’ll be barred from ever holding future federal office.”
The call comes at a particularly precarious moment for Hegseth. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduced articles of impeachment against the defense secretary in September, only to see the effort stalled when House Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home until after the midterm elections.
“But guess what? Tick-tock, bitch, the midterms are over,” Oliver declared.
Over the course of a nearly 35-minute segment, Oliver revisited Hegseth’s controversial past, from allegations of misconduct at veterans’ organizations to his years at Fox News, where he once accidentally struck a marching band drummer with an axe during an on-air demonstration.
But the segment took a considerably darker turn as Oliver examined Hegseth’s actions since taking office, including his removal of scores of senior military leaders, rollback of safeguards intended to protect civilians, and oversight of military strikes in Yemen, the Caribbean, and Iran.
Particularly devastating was Oliver’s account of a U.S. strike on an Iranian elementary school that killed at least 123 children. After airing an interview with an 11-year-old survivor who lost her younger sister in the attack, Oliver said it was “truly damning that an 11-year-old is somehow displaying more integrity and moral clarity than Pete Hegseth has ever shown in his entire f*cking life.”
Oliver also shared the Pentagon’s responses to questions submitted by his show. Asked about Hegseth’s college-era criticism of diversity, a spokesperson replied, “The secretary was and remains absolutely correct on this topic. He is very based.”
And when the show asked whether there was anything else the Pentagon wanted viewers to know, the response was even more pointed: “Deport John Oliver—Pentagon spokesman.”
Oliver, for his part, suggested Hegseth would be better off returning to Fox News, where he could resume performing stunts with the likes of Kid Rock.
“That’ll still be vastly preferable to where he is now,” Oliver said. “So hopefully Congress will fix what it never should’ve allowed to happen in the first place, and remove him from office.”
Watch the full segment at the top of this post.
