Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced an eight-article impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, using a procedural maneuver that will force a full House vote within days despite the measure’s long odds of success in the Republican-controlled chamber.
Massie read the articles of impeachment aloud from the House floor shortly after the chamber convened at noon, accusing Hegseth of waging an unauthorized war against Iran, defying congressional votes ordering an end to U.S. involvement, and committing “high crimes and misdemeanors.” He designated the resolution as privileged, a procedural status that requires House leadership to schedule a vote within two days regardless of whether party leaders support bringing it to the floor — a move Massie made without giving Republican leadership advance notice of his plans.
The resolution’s core allegations center on the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which requires a president to end unauthorized military engagements within 60 days unless Congress formally declares war or otherwise approves the operation, with an additional 30 days permitted for a safe troop withdrawal. Massie’s first three articles accuse Hegseth of initiating and continuing the Iran conflict without either a declaration of war or statutory authorization, and of continuing hostilities even after the House passed resolutions in June and July directing the president to end U.S. military involvement. Massie argued that Hegseth had subordinated the constitutional limits on military force and the laws governing hostilities to his own policy objectives, adding that Hegseth’s conduct reflected a profound disregard for the impact of U.S. operations on civilians.
The remaining five articles extend well beyond Iran. They accuse Hegseth of disregarding legal protections meant to limit civilian casualties, ordering extrajudicial killings in operations targeting suspected drug traffickers, retaliating against Democratic Senator Mark Kelly in violation of free-speech protections, directing the unauthorized capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores without legal authority, and launching military operations in Yemen without congressional authorization.
The Pentagon rejected the effort. Press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the entire department remains unified behind Hegseth’s vision, crediting him with slashing bureaucracy, unleashing innovation and delivering for American troops, and argued that recruitment and morale across every service branch stand at all-time highs under his leadership. The Trump administration has separately maintained that the Iran campaign, which began in February, falls within the president’s constitutional authority as commander in chief, arguing the operation is necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to protect American forces and allies in the region — a justification outside experts have disputed, noting Iran was not assessed to be close to developing a weapon before the conflict began.
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Massie’s push follows a monthslong campaign to constrain the administration’s war-making authority, including his earlier bipartisan War Powers Resolution effort with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California, which helped compel the House to pass measures in June and July directing an end to U.S. involvement in Iran. He also worked with Khanna on a separate, successful push to force the administration’s release of files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — part of a broader pattern of friction with Trump that contributed to Massie losing his May primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Ed Gallrein, following a wave of spending from pro-Israel groups. Massie is not seeking re-election.
House Republicans currently hold enough votes to defeat Tuesday’s resolution, though the tally could prove politically uncomfortable for members representing competitive districts, given persistently low public support for the Iran war and its contribution to rising domestic costs. Hegseth already faces a separate impeachment effort brought by House Democrats, who introduced six articles against him in April, meaning Tuesday’s vote will mark the second time this year the House has formally considered removing the defense secretary from office.
The Iran campaign at the center of Massie’s charges began in February, when the U.S. and Israel launched joint operations against Iranian nuclear and military facilities, a conflict that has since stretched well beyond initial expectations and drawn repeated congressional pushback.
Both the June and July war powers resolutions passed with a small number of Republicans breaking from party leadership to join Democrats, exposing a persistent, if narrow, faction within the GOP uneasy with the scope of the administration’s military campaign.
Neither resolution proved binding on the administration, which has continued operations regardless, a pattern Massie’s impeachment effort explicitly cites as evidence that Congress’s war powers authority has been effectively disregarded.
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The Maduro-related allegations add a further dimension to the resolution, tying Hegseth’s conduct in the Middle East to separate, contested military operations in Latin America. Massie’s articles accuse Hegseth of directing the capture of the Venezuelan president and his wife without congressional authorization, a claim that, if substantiated, would extend the scope of alleged executive overreach well beyond the Iran conflict that has dominated public attention around Massie’s broader war powers campaign this year.
