Axios reported on Sunday that GOP leaders in the House are bracing for enough Republican defections to impeach US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth when the resolution comes to a vote, which is expected to happen this week.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced a resolution in September that includes eight articles of impeachment, accusing Hegseth of “high crimes and misdemeanors” related to the Iran war, which was launched without congressional authorization and continued despite Congress passing a War Powers Resolution directing the president to end it.
Massie’s articles also target Hegseth for ignoring US laws meant to minimize civilian casualties, which the resolution ties to the February 28 US strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, southern Iran, which killed at least 156 civilians, including 120 children, the bombing campaign against alleged drug-running boats, a 2025 bombing campaign in Yemen, and other issues.
Massie told the Daily Signal on Friday that he plans to reintroduce the articles on Monday or Tuesday and that the resolution would be updated to reflect US military operations since September, but would largely remain the same. “There’s just a few things we’ve changed in it. They’ve bombed more fishing boats since the last time. Yeah, we have to update a few numbers, and so there’ll be just minor changes to it probably,” he said.
Massie said he wasn’t sure if the impeachment would pass the House but that he thinks the “chances are better now than they were before the election.” The GOP defeat in the midterms was seen as a referendum on the war, and Hegseth is seen as one of its biggest supporters within the administration.
Even supporters of the war are critical of Hegseth’s conduct, as an unnamed Republican lawmaker told Axios that the Pentagon chief’s tone and rhetoric has been “very damaging to our ability to get the facts out to the American people on why the strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities, and the additional military actions, were necessary.”
House GOP leadership may try to table Massie’s resolution, but if enough House members support impeachment, it will fail. If the House impeaches Hegseth, it’s unlikely the Senate would remove him, since that requires a two-thirds majority.
Multiple media reports have said that Trump was considering removing Hegseth from his position following the midterms, but the president has denied it, saying that he’s done a “fantastic job.”
