Hegseth Calls Impeachment Push a Farce Ahead of Expected House Vote

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Key Points

  • The House could vote as early as 5:30 p.m. ET Tuesday on a procedural motion tied to Rep. Thomas Massie’s resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to the Majority Leader’s floor schedule.
  • At his first Pentagon news conference in six months, Hegseth called the effort “a farce” and “a stunt” and said the charges amount to policy disagreements, not high crimes.
  • Massie’s eight articles center on alleged War Powers violations in Iran and Yemen, deadly strikes on alleged drug boats, the seizure of Nicolas Maduro and retaliation against Sen. Mark Kelly.
  • House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says he is a “hard yes,” while President Trump said he will “stand by” Hegseth.
  • The House has not voted. Even if it impeaches, removal would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate.

A Hegseth impeachment vote could reach the House floor as soon as Tuesday evening, hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used his first Pentagon news conference in six months to dismiss the effort as “a farce” and “a stunt.” The House has not voted, and Hegseth has not been impeached.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., filed the eight-article resolution Monday as a privileged matter, which forces House leaders to act on it within two legislative days.

What happened

Massie read the resolution aloud on the House floor Monday afternoon, shortly after the chamber returned for its first session since the Nov. 3 midterm elections, the Associated Press and Roll Call reported. Republicans lost control of both chambers in those elections, effective with the new Congress in January.

“By engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorization, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable,” Massie said in a Nov. 9 statement announcing the vote. He added: “President Trump should replace Secretary Hegseth now while he can still get a replacement confirmed in the Senate.”

According to Massie’s office, the eight articles charge that Hegseth:

  • violated three separate provisions of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 over the Iran war, including by continuing it after both chambers passed a measure directing the removal of U.S. forces;
  • ignored laws meant to limit civilian casualties;
  • carried out “extrajudicial killings” through strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats;
  • used Pentagon authority to retaliate against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for his speech;
  • directed the operation that seized Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro without legal authority; and
  • launched military action in Yemen without congressional authorization.

What the resolution alleges

The casualty figures are claims made in the resolution, not findings by a court or an official investigation. The 34-page text says Hegseth directed the department in a way that resulted in “the death or injury of more than 200 civilians” at an elementary school in Minab, Iran. It also says the boat-strike campaign in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific killed at least 243 people, a higher count than the 221 deaths cited in the version Massie released in September.

That earlier attempt never reached a vote. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., sent the House home early before the midterms, blocking a vote, NPR and MS NOW reported. Massie, who lost his May primary to Trump-backed Ed Gallrein, leaves Congress in January.

Latest development

Hegseth went on the offensive Tuesday morning at the Pentagon. “What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, and it’s not accountability. It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” he said, according to ABC News and CBS News.

“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt, and everybody knows it,” Hegseth said, as reported by CBS News and NBC News. He called every operation named in the articles a lawful order from the commander in chief and cast the charges as policy disagreements. “This is not patriotism. This is sabotage,” he said, according to the AP and the BBC.

Hegseth also compared the effort to President Donald Trump’s two impeachments, both of which ended in Senate acquittals. “If standing with President Trump puts me in that company, I’ll take that company every day of the week,” he said, CBS News and NBC News reported.

Shortly after the briefing, Trump praised his Pentagon chief on Truth Social, writing that “Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS” and calling Massie “a TOTAL LOSER,” according to CBS News and the BBC. On Monday, Trump told reporters, “I’ll stand by him,” NPR and MS NOW reported.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, expected to become speaker in January, has said he is a “hard yes” on impeachment, according to Roll Call and CBS News. It remains unclear how many Republicans besides Massie will back the measure. Massie has said he does not know whether he has the votes.

Why it matters

The vote forces House Republicans to go on the record over the Iran war and the administration’s use of military force, one week after a midterm election in which many lawmakers in both parties blamed the war and higher energy prices for GOP losses. It also tests how much power Congress still has over decisions to go to war, the central question in Massie’s three War Powers articles.

The financial toll of the conflict has been a running issue on Capitol Hill, as our earlier report on the Congressional Budget Office estimate of the Iran war’s cost to the Pentagon showed.

What happens next

The House Majority Leader’s floor schedule for Tuesday lists a “Procedural Motion Relating to” the resolution impeaching Hegseth, with first and last votes expected at 5:30 p.m. ET. Schedules can change.

  • Motion to table or refer: Republican leaders can move to table the resolution or send it to committee. Either step needs a simple majority and, if it passes, would block a direct vote on the articles, NBC News and MS NOW reported. CBS News reported that a procedural vote to table the measure is likely to come first.
  • Vote on the articles: If that motion fails, the House would vote on the resolution itself. A simple majority would impeach Hegseth.
  • Senate trial: Impeachment alone would not remove him. The Senate would hold a trial, and conviction requires a two-thirds vote, a bar NPR reported the effort is unlikely to clear. Our explainer on how a Senate impeachment trial works walks through each step.

Related live coverage

Follow the House vote and reaction from Capitol Hill on U.S. Politics Live, or stream major news networks from our Watch Live hub.

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