Last Week Tonight host John Oliver dedicated his latest episode to arguing that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should be removed from power.
“There is clearly damage here that cannot be undone, but the very least we can do is try and stem it by impeaching and removing this f**king a**hole as soon as possible,” Oliver said. “Ideally in a way that also ensures he’ll be far from ever holding future federal offices, because it’s not like he’s ever going to change.”
Oliver dedicated his 44-minute episode to covering Hegseth’s many scandals, from his sexual assault allegations to him accidentally adding a journalist to a classified group chat.
Oliver zeroed in on Hegseth’s choice to axe the Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response program, a choice that he speculates is responsible for the U.S. military’s bombing of an elementary school in Iran.
“I cannot say that if Hegseth hadn’t gutted the civilian harm mitigation program, that it would have definitely prevented that strike,” Oliver said. “But this tragedy sure feels like the symptom of a military that seems to care a lot more about lethality-maxxing than actual human beings.”
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Oliver’s monologue airs five days after Democrats won back the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2026 midterms, both by wide margins. With Democrats now having far greater control over Congress’ oversight committees, party leaders have shown clear interest in investigating and potentially impeaching Trump’s defense secretary.
“Hopefully,” said Oliver, “Congress will fix what it never should have allowed to happen in the first place, and remove him from office.”
Last Week Tonight airs on Sundays at 11:00 p.m. and is available to stream on HBO Max. Episode segments also tend to release on the show’s YouTube page the next day.