Massie Reintroduces Articles of Impeachment Against Hegseth, Forcing House Vote This Week

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, reintroduced eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday. The move starts a two-day clock toward an expected House vote this week, Reuters reported.

Massie accuses Hegseth of waging war in Iran without congressional approval, launching lethal strikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea and ignoring laws passed by Congress to limit civilian casualties in war, USA Today reported. The articles also charge Hegseth with conducting strikes in Yemen, the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a military raid and using a Pentagon investigation to retaliate against Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat.

Congressional sources told Reuters the resolution may have the simple majority needed to pass the Republican-controlled House before Democrats take control on January 3. Massie said he does not know if it has enough votes, and warned that Speaker Mike Johnson could try to table the resolution or refer it to committee.

Even if the House votes to impeach, removal looks unlikely. A trial would follow in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required and Republicans hold 53 of 100 seats.

Johnson and Trump oppose the effort

House Speaker Mike Johnson opposed the effort, saying impeachment “in the middle of hostilities abroad” would be “a terrible thing for our allies and our enemies to see,” Reuters reported.

Trump backed Hegseth and condemned the impeachment push in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday. “They want to impeach him. Very unfair. We had two wars, we won both,” Trump said, according to a CBS transcript. He told reporters on Nov. 8: “He’s guilty of two things: basically winning two wars.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Sunday he was a “hard yes” on a measure to impeach Hegseth. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said, “I think there are enough Republicans who want him gone.”

A second attempt after September

Massie first sought to force a vote in September, but Johnson sent lawmakers home early to avoid a vote until after the midterm elections. Massie had to reintroduce the resolution to restart the two-day clock.

Massie, who will leave Congress in January after losing his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, warned in a statement on Monday that impeachment would be “much gentler” than what awaits Hegseth once Democrats take control. “They will hold hearings and trials. President Trump should replace Secretary Hegseth now while he can still get a replacement confirmed in the Senate,” Massie said.

Hegseth has vowed to stay and fight. He said in a video address on Nov. 5 that Massie was a “disgruntled, defeated congressman” who joined with Democrats to bring “sham articles of impeachment against yours truly.” On Monday he said he was “not worried” about the vote and announced a news conference for Tuesday, his first at the Pentagon since May.

One of Massie’s articles focuses on a U.S. strike on an Iranian primary school that killed at least 168 people, most of them children, at the start of the war. The Pentagon has yet to release the findings of an investigation into the Feb. 28 airstrike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh school, USA Today reported.

If the House impeaches Hegseth, he would be the first civilian leader of the U.S. military to face that outcome since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876. Belknap resigned ahead of his scheduled vote; the House impeached him anyway, and the Senate later acquitted him.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and USA Today.