Rep. Thomas Massie Files Articles of Impeachment Against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, on Monday introduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, setting up a possible House vote as early as Wednesday. The eight-article resolution, read aloud on the House floor, is the most serious congressional challenge yet to the Pentagon chief and lands days after Republicans lost both chambers in the midterm elections.

According to CNBC, the resolution states that Hegseth "has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office" and argues that he "warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification" from holding federal office.

The charges

Roll Call reports that the text is substantially the same as a version Massie filed in mid-September, which Speaker Mike Johnson kept off the floor by adjourning the House. The articles accuse Hegseth of:

• waging the Iran war without congressional authorization, in violation of the War Powers Resolution, the focus of three of the eight articles;
• continuing combat after the House and Senate adopted a concurrent resolution in June calling for withdrawal;
• extrajudicial killings of at least 243 suspected drug traffickers in strikes on boats in the Western Hemisphere;
• retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, for speech questioning unlawful military orders;
• overseeing the January operation in Caracas that seized former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and strikes in Yemen that Congress did not authorize.

How the vote could unfold

Massie filed the measure as a question of the privileges of the House. Once the speaker rules that it qualifies, leaders must act within two legislative days, either by holding a vote on the resolution itself or on a motion to table it or refer it to committee.

The math is tight. CNBC notes that Republicans hold a 218-214 majority, so a handful of GOP defections could be enough to impeach. Massie, who lost his primary in May and will not return in January, has suggested that defeated Republicans may feel freer to vote their conscience, although Roll Call points out that some of them may simply skip the vote. Even if the House acts, removal would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, which Republicans control until the new Congress is sworn in.

Reactions

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, expected to become speaker, told ABC's "This Week" that he is "a hard yes." Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, went further: "By every estimation, it will pass and he will be impeached."

President Donald Trump said he would stand by Hegseth even if he is impeached. "He won two wars. He was in charge," Trump said, adding, "He's done a very good job." Hegseth has dismissed the effort as a sham. "It didn't work with President Trump and it won't work with me," he said last week. He has scheduled a Pentagon news conference for Tuesday morning.

Why it matters

The House has impeached a Cabinet secretary only twice: Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024, whose case the Senate dismissed without a trial. Massie's push gains momentum from a midterm defeat that many Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, have tied to the Iran war. However the vote goes, it will measure how much support the Pentagon's course still commands inside the GOP and preview the oversight fights awaiting the administration once Democrats take control of Congress and the defense budget in January.