“No… secretary of defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations,” said Hegseth, who is facing impeachment for allegedly carrying out unlawful military operations.

  • NekoKoneko@lemmy.world
    22·
    16 hours ago

    I know Trump has his pardon just waiting for a signature, but considering he violated international and Pentagon law by killing defenseless survivors, this is pretty bold to just admit mens rea for criminal conviction purposes.

    Pretty useful for sentencing too.

    • hitstun@feddit.onlineEnglish
      15·
      14 hours ago

      A pardon can’t protect Hegseth from being impeached by Congress and removed from office. It does protect him from going to jail.

      What if another country came in, kidnapped him, and delivered him to the Hague and stand trial. Trump and Hegseth made that OK to do.

      • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
        1·
        6 hours ago

        Trump and Hegseth made that OK to do.

        Trump escalated it, but it actually goes back to Clinton if not before. From Wikipedia:

        According to Clinton administration official Richard Clarke:

        ‘extraordinary renditions’, were operations to apprehend terrorists abroad, usually without the knowledge of and almost always without public acknowledgment of the host government … The first time I proposed a snatch, in 1993, the White House Counsel, Lloyd Cutler, demanded a meeting with the President to explain how it violated international law. Clinton had seemed to be siding with Cutler until Al Gore belatedly joined the meeting, having just flown overnight from South Africa. Clinton recapped the arguments on both sides for Gore: ‘Lloyd says this. Dick says that.’ Gore laughed and said, ‘That’s a no-brainer. Of course it’s a violation of international law, that’s why it’s a covert action. The guy is a terrorist. Go grab his ass.’

        It escalated under Bush and continued under Obama, and now we’re at a point where they’ve straight up abducted a head of state.

    • halcyoncmdr@piefed.socialEnglish
      8·
      14 hours ago

      So we get around the pardon. Finish the process, sign the Rome Statute like we should have back under Clinton and Bush, and let the ICC handle the war crimes Nuremberg 2.0: Mar-A-Lago edition.

    • chaogomu@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      14 hours ago

      Impeachment is pardon proof via the constitution. The actual limits have never been tested, but someone with gumption could argue that the crimes one has been impeached over, cannot be pardoned at all.