House expected to hold preliminary vote on Hegseth impeachment

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended himself Tuesday against an impeachment resolution filed by outgoing Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, calling the effort a political spectacle and saying it undermines American troops in war zones.

Massie filed the resolution in the House on Monday. It sets the stage for a dramatic vote on whether to remove a key Trump administration Cabinet member following sweeping losses for Republicans in last week’s midterm elections, which many at least partly blamed on the Iran conflict and its economic impact.

The resolution largely focuses on the war in Iran but also includes references to Hegseth’s role in military actions in Yemen against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and Venezuela. Massie said Hegseth’s actions amount to “high crimes and misdemeanors” and his leadership at the Pentagon “warrants impeachment.”

Hegseth said Massie’s concerns are not impeachable, calling them “policy disagreements, not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause.”

Hegseth gave a defiant and politicized defense of his stewardship of the U.S. military in his first news conference at the Pentagon in six months. He chose to hit back at the rising bipartisan anger over battlefield strategy while offering few details about intermittent operations against Iran or fatal strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in Latin America.

Hegseth framed the impeachment effort as an indictment against the nation’s service members and their successes while undermining American forces “in real time.”

“This is not patriotism,” Hegseth said. “This is sabotage.”

Hegseth said the impeachment resolution “tells our enemies — Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching — the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations.”

Hegseth also condemned the effort as “a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment.”

A vote in the House could come by midweek, putting pressure on Republicans — many of whom blamed their election wipeout on the fallout from the Iran war — but next steps are highly uncertain.

Hegseth cast Massie’s resolution in historic terms, arguing that no defense secretary has been impeached in the nation’s 250-year history “for carrying out lawful military operations.”

But more recently, a Cabinet official in President Joe Biden’s administration, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, was impeached by House Republicans over his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border. But the Senate dismissed all impeachment charges, shutting down his trial before arguments even began.

Mayorkas, who did not appear to testify before the impeachment proceedings, put the border crisis squarely on Congress for failing to update immigration laws during a time of global migration. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had said then, in April 2024, that House Republicans’ charges failed to meet “the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors” and could set a dangerous precedent.

Before Mayorkas, a sitting Cabinet secretary had never been impeached. It was nearly 150 years ago that the House voted to impeach President Ulysses S. Grant’s war secretary, William Belknap, over a kickback scheme in government contracts. He resigned before the vote.

Trump has backed Hegseth in the wake of Massie’s impeachment resolution, pointing to the U.S. military raid to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January as well as operations against Iran that he asserts have “obliterated” its navy and air force.

“Pete Hegseth gets an “A” PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.

Iran, however, has been able to keep striking U.S. military bases in the Middle East and has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the more than 8-month-old conflict, driving up global oil prices.

Trump told reporters Monday that the Iran war “militarily is effectively over” and repeated his often-made claim that Tehran “would love to make a deal.”

Besides public comments, Hegseth also has been defending his leadership of the U.S. military in a social media blitz. He released a video last week arguing impeachment would be “all about the politics of personal destruction” and that “won’t work with me.”

Scores of Pentagon political appointees have posted images of Hegseth emblazoned with the words, “Stand. Fight. Defend the Republic.”

France 24 reported that Hegseth dismissed the move to impeach him as a “farce” and a political “stunt” on Tuesday. It said Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth over his handling of the war with Iran and other alleged abuses of power.

Sources

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.