With Congress returning from their election recess, the Elitist Media Evening News have honed in on a key legislative item for this lame duck session: the impeachment of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. This, as they make interesting omissions and stuff their newscasts with a dizzying array of national non-stories.
For a representative sample, watch the item put forth by CBS Evening News in its entirety, as aired on Monday, November 9th, 2026:
WATCH: @CBSEveningNews runs with Hegseth impeachment circus as its top story, as the entirety of the Elite Media evening news omit the Battle Royal brewing among Senate Democrats pic.twitter.com/9r6oAur43X
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) November 10, 2026
TONY DOKOUPIL: Now to that move that could make Pete Hegseth the first Pentagon chief to be impeached in 150 years, and what the Secretary is now doing in response ahead of what could be a vote by midweek. Here's CBS's Caitlin Huey-Burns.
THOMAS MASSIE: Peter Brian Hegseth has abused the powers of the Department of Defense.
CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS: Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie introduced eight impeachment articles against the Secretary of Defense today, accusing him of high crimes and misdemeanors. Including illegally launching the war with Iran, kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and killing hundreds of civilians in boat strikes against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean.
MASSIE: He has broken laws and he has violated the Constitution.
HUEY-BURNS: Hegseth called the move to impeach “partisan political games."
PETE HEGSETH: We know the world is a better and safer place as a result, and so if you want to litigate that, the success of those things, I'm happy to do it all day long.
HUEY-BURNS: President Trump said he would stand by Hegseth even if he is impeached. But Republicans on Capitol Hill have been increasingly critical of Hegseth’s leadership, specifically, his firing of nearly 20 generals and admirals.
DON BACON: I don’t think he was the right choice to begin with.
HUEY-BURNS: Newly-elected lawmakers made their way to Capitol Hill today for orientation. Democrat Cait Conley, an Army veteran who flipped a Republican seat in New York, said it's only a question of when Hegseth will be removed.
CAIT CONLEY: He has got to go. So if this Congress won't get it done, make no mistake, we will.
HUEY-BURNS: And the House is expected to vote on this as soon as Wednesday, and if it passes, Hegseth will be the third Cabinet secretary in history to be impeached. And he says he's going to have his own press conference tomorrow morning, which would be his first since May, Tony.
DOKOUPIL: We’ll be watching. Caitlin, thank you.
Correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns helps Massie advance the leftist talking point of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro being kidnapped, along with the other reasons for the punitive impeachment of Hegseth. The item includes a soundbite from Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, who says “Hegseth was not the right choice”, and a soundbite from an incoming Democrat freshman saying it’s not a matter of if but when.
CBS’s was the most concise of the reports, focusing solely on Hegseth. ABC did a more extensive report featuring soundbites from President Donald Trump, House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries, in addition to the obligatory Don Bacon quote. The report closed out with a recap of Trump’s immigration quote from his “60 Minutes” interview, his clarification that policy has not changed, and a contrast with Stephen Miller taking over as White House Chief of Staff.
NBC ran basically the same report, except that Gabe Gutierrez closed out with President Biden curtailing his book tour due to health reasons. This, the investigation of Jensen Huang over Chinese honeypot allegations were the top D.C. stories that ran on the evening news. But there was one major omission that would not have been an omission under other(R) circumstances. Per Fox News:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is riding high after flipping the Senate, but a growing rebellion among longtime and fresh-faced Senate Democrats may throw a wrench in his plan to seek another term as the top dog in the upper chamber.
The top Democrat, who has led the Senate Democratic caucus for nearly a decade, has made clear he intends to run for another term as leader and take on the role of majority leader once more.
The report goes on to note that Maryland Senator Chris van Hollen is mulling a run for Majority Leader, and that many of the incoming freshman class are withholding support from Schumer. This is your classic “Democrats in Disarray” story. But running such a story would ruin the post-midterm afterglow for both the Democrats and their Media.
Viewers were instead treated to the usual filler, among them: nonlethal aviation mishaps, racist college coeds at Ole Miss, Russell Brand getting sentenced to 10 years for rape, and stupid frat pranks at Ohio State. This is what filled the newscasts in lieu of the Senate Democrat divisions, which would have been the consensus top story on the evening news had this happened on the Republican side of the aisle.
With these filler stories in place, the Elitist Media Evening News were free to indulge the left’s weaponization fetish. And they’re just getting started.
Click “expand” to view the aforementioned stories as aired on their respective newscasts on Monday, November 9th, 2026:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
11/9/26
6:36 PM
DAVID MUIR: Also breaking tonight: Congress marking its first day back since the midterms. And tonight Republican Congressman Thomas Massie introducing articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, mostly involving the war in Iran. Late today, President Trump was pressed on Pete Hegseth and here's Mary Bruce.
MARY BRUCE: Today, newly elected members of Congress arriving on Capitol Hill, and in the House, one of the first orders of business came from Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, who filed eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
THOMAS MASSIE: Impeaching Peter Brian Hegseth, Secretary of Defense for high crimes and misdemeanors.
BRUCE: Massie accusing Hegseth of violating the Constitution by illegally launching the war with Iran, endangering members of the military and killing hundreds of civilians in boat strikes against alleged drug smugglers. Late today in a surprise appearance in the briefing room, the President defending the war in Iran and making it clear he's standing firmly behind Hegseth.
REPORTER: Will you stand by Pete Hegseth if he’s impeached?
DONALD TRUMP: Yeah, I’ll stand him.
REPORTER: So even if he’s impeached you’re going to keep him as your Defense Secretary.
TRUMP: I’ll stand by him, yeah.
BRUCE: Hegseth denies any wrongdoing, dismissing efforts to impeach him as nothing more than partisan noise.
PETE HEGSETH: My team, we’re not worried about the noise. This is what I told the troops, too. There’s partisan noise all over our town. We’re focused on delivering the President’s agenda.
BRUCE: The move to impeach, the first test of Republicans' loyalty since voters sent the President that blistering rebuke in the midterms.
BRUCE: Tonight, some Republicans on the fence.
DON BACON: I don’t think he’s been a good secretary. But do you impeach a guy for that?
BRUCE: The House now required to vote on the articles of impeachment by Wednesday. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who's poised to become the next Speaker of the House, says he's a hard yes.
HAKEEM JEFFRIES: It's clear as day. He's been a failure and a disaster for the American people.
BRUCE: Overnight, President Trump with a stark admission about the midterm elections, saying his immigration policies may have been too tough.
ROSS DOUTHAT: It went too far, it was too tough-
TRUMP: I think it might be too tough, yeah.
BRUCE: But today in the White House briefing room, Trump saying his immigration policy will stand.
TRUMP: My policy hasn’t changed. What we are doing is absolutely the worst of the worst.
BRUCE: David, the president there acknowledging that his controversial immigration crackdown went too far. And today the architect of that policy, Stephen Miller, had his first day on the job here as the President's new Chief of Staff. Trump says his policy has not changed, but that he is open to working with Democrats on immigration. David.
MUIR: Mary Bruce live at the White House. Mary, thank you.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS11/9/26
6:32 PM
TOM LLAMAS: Good evening. We thank you for being with us on this Monday night. We need to begin with those fast-moving developments in Washington and the effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. A House Republican and Trump critic filing the articles of impeachment today, accusing him of illegal actions in Iran, in Venezuela and in the Caribbean with those deadly strikes on alleged drug smugglers. President Trump today defending his Pentagon chief in a surprise news conference in the briefing room, and also reversing his headline-making comments that just aired last night where he suggested he may soften his stance on immigration. Today, the president making clear he has no such plan. And after seeming to accept the results of the midterm election today, he's making unfounded claims that they may not be legit. Gabe Gutierrez is covering it all and starts us off from The White House.
GABE GUTIERREZ: Tonight, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth under fire. Republican congressman Thomas Massie, an outspoken Trump critic who was defeated in a GOP primary, filing eight articles of impeachment.
THOMAS MASSIE: He has violated the norms of war, and it's to the disadvantage and the dishonor of our country.
GUTIERREZ: The charges include waging the Iran war despite no declaration of war by congress. The unauthorized lethal military targeting of suspected drug traffickers, and kidnapping Venezuela's authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro. Hegseth today, firing back.
PETE HEGSETH: We know the world is a better and safer place as a result. And so if we want to litigate that, the success of those things, I'm happy to do it all day long.
GUTIERREZ: Tonight, the president saying he'll stand by Hegseth even if he's impeached.
DONALD TRUMP: Massie is a loser. (VIDEO SWIPE) What has Hegseth done? He won the war. He was in charge. He won the war in Venezuela. (VIDEO SWIPE) He's won the war in Iran. But he certainly winning the war. Iran would love to make a deal. And they've been obliterated.
GUTIERREZ: After last week's midterms, top Democrats are also now saying they'll target attorney general Todd Blanche and Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. for investigations and impeachment. Tonight, President Trump questioning the election results, writing, “Does anybody really believe that this election was honest? How could the polls be so wrong?” A sharp difference from what he said just last week.
TRUMP: I think the Democrats did a good job. I really do. I think they did a good job. They fought hard.
GUTIERREZ: And this reversal on 60 minutes saying his mass deportation policy went too far.
TRUMP: I think it might be too tough. Yeah. And a lot of people would say that it's great, but a lot of people think it's too tough.
GUTIERREZ: An hour after the interview, though, he named Stephen Miller, the polarizing architect of his crackdown on illegal immigration, his new Chief of Staff.
TRUMP: I have a very strong deportation policy. There's no amnesty, no, no anything. We keep that, but we focus on the worst of the worst.
LLAMAS: All right. Gabe joins us live. And Gabe, we also have a new headline tonight about the health of former President Biden.
GUTIERREZ: Yes, Tom. As he undergoes cancer treatment, he's now scaling back the book tour for his memoir, which is set to be released next week. Last year, Biden announced he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, and his son recently said that it spread to other parts of his body. Tom.
LLAMAS: Gabe Gutierrez for us at The White House. Gabe, thank you.
