US representative accuses defense secretary of illegally waging war without congressional authorization and abusing his powers
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A Republican lawmaker has moved to force a vote to impeach Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, setting the stage for a showdown over one of the most divisive figures inside Donald Trump’s administration.
Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, accusing him of illegally waging war without congressional authorization and abusing his powers.
Massie, an outgoing Republican congressman from Kentucky and vocal critic of the president, argued from the well of the House of Representatives that Hegseth had committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” and “has executed unlawful orders” in office.
Massie is expected to have some Republican support for a vote on articles of impeachment. Under House rules, the vote would have to occur no later than Wednesday.
Massie first introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth on 15 September, but House speaker Mike Johnson called US Congress into recess before it could be heard.
Republicans retain control of the House until new members are seated in January, but House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York – widely expected to ascend to speaker – has said he is a “hard yes” on impeaching Hegseth. “Hegseth has got to go,” Jeffries told ABC News on Sunday.
Hegseth spent the morning on Monday at the Naval War college, announcing an array of changes to military education that he said would enable US military officers “to wage war with such devastating speed, precision and lethality that no adversary dares test American result that’s deterrence – and if they do that, they are completely and utterly destroyed: that we achieve victory”.
But it is the failure to deliver victory that has placed a target on Hegseth’s back.
Trump, vice-president JD Vance and other Republican leaders quickly attributed last week’s historic US midterm election losses by Republicans to the Iran war and its pocketbook effects on otherwise-conservative voters.
Hegseth fired back at his critics in a short video released on Thursday, describing the threat of his impeachment as “all about the politics of personal destruction”, insisting that it “won’t work with me”.
Watchdogs Common Cause and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington argued that the video is a violation of the Hatch Act, which bars the use of government funds for partisan political purposes.
Massie’s impeachment resolution holds that Hegseth has subverted the power of Congress to declare war with unauthorized attacks on Iran and Yemen; systemically violated laws meant to minimize civilian casualties with the killing of more than 100 children at a school in Iran; and engaged in extrajudicial killings when ordering suspected drug boats in the Caribbean to be sunk and their crews left without rescue.
The resolution also argues that Hegseth’s investigation and threatened prosecution of Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, and others for calling for troops to disobey illegal orders was an unconstitutional violation of the first amendment, and alleges that the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela was illegal and unconstitutional.
