Republican Rep. Thomas Massie is forcing a vote in the House of Representatives this week to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, reviving articles of impeachment he first introduced in September. "By engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorisation, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable," Massie said.
Massie formally reintroduced his resolution on the House floor on Monday, starting a 48-hour clock for the chamber to act. Lawmakers can vote on it directly, refer it to committee, or move to table it. The Kentucky congressman, who lost his primary re-election bid earlier this year and has clashed with President Trump over the Iran war and the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, says his goal is less about removing Hegseth than about timing: he wants Trump to name a replacement who can be confirmed while Republicans still hold the Senate.
"My effort to impeach Secretary Hegseth is a much gentler version of what's coming when the Democrats assume control of the House and Senate next year," Massie said in a statement. "They will hold hearings and trials." Republicans lost control of both chambers in last week's midterm elections, and Democrats are expected to hold at least 54 Senate seats once two undecided races are resolved — short of the 67 votes needed to convict and remove a Cabinet official, but enough to make hearings and a House impeachment vote far more likely after January.
Hegseth has dismissed the effort as a "sham" and said he is not concerned. "You see, they attack me. They attack us because we are effective," he said in a video statement, defending his record on the Iran war, the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and military recruitment. Trump has indicated he intends to keep Hegseth in place, telling reporters Monday that "the soldiers, the actual soldiers ... they love Pete Hegseth. He's done a very good job."
Impeaching a Cabinet secretary is historically rare — the House has done so only twice, and the Senate convicted neither. A Northwestern University law professor said impeachment has grown "much more common as the country has become more politically polarised," predicting more of Trump's Cabinet could face similar efforts in the next two years. With Republicans holding a slim 218-214 House majority, George Washington University public-affairs professor Peter Loge said the measure could pass regardless of Massie's own uncertainty about the vote count: "There are enough angry Republicans that more than enough Republicans are gonna simply not show up to vote."
