House Republicans derail impeachment effort against Pete Hegseth
The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday evening to lay aside a resolution to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on charges of high crimes and misdemeanors tied primarily to his conduct regarding the Iran war.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., an outspoken Republican critic of the Trump administration who lost his primary in May, had introduced the eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth on Monday. The House voted 211-204 to refer his resolution to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
"The reality is, we're not indicting him for being bad at his job. In fact, he was very effective at killing schoolchildren in Iran. He was very effective at extrajudicial killings," Massie told reporters Monday. "There's no argument in these impeachment articles that he's ineffective. The argument here is that he's broken laws and he's violated the Constitution."
The outgoing congressman's 34-page resolution alleged that Hegseth violated the U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which limits the president's ability to introduce U.S. forces into hostilities without congressional authorization, a declaration of war or an attack against the U.S.
The first three articles related to the Iran war, calling it "unlawful from its inception" and charging Hegseth with initiating the conflict without congressional authorization. He also allegedly continued them despite a congressional resolution directing removal of U.S. forces in June and exceeded the 60-day clock of the War Powers Resolution.
The fourth article related to civilian casualties and accused Hegseth of dismantling Pentagon systems designed to minimize civilian harm, highlighting the Feb. 28 strike on a girls' elementary school in Minab, Iran, that killed as many as 170 civilians, most of whom were children.
The fifth article alleged that boat strikes by the U.S. have led to the extrajudicial killings of at least 221-243 people on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September 2025, treating suspected drug traffickers and survivors as military targets without congressional authorization.
The sixth article accused Hegseth of weaponizing the Pentagon against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for appearing in a video urging service members to refuse illegal orders, including a censure and rank-reduction threat that was later blocked by a judge.
The seventh article framed the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in January as an unauthorized act of war that involved significant forces, resulted in dozens of deaths and was potentially aimed at oil interests.
The last article covered "Operation Rough Rider," a 2025 U.S.-British campaign against the Houthis in Yemen that was allegedly unauthorized under the War Powers Resolution and lacked an imminent threat.
During his first Pentagon briefing room appearance since May, Hegseth dismissed the resolution on Tuesday morning as "a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment" from Massie, whom he described as "one disgruntled and defeated congressman."
"In the 250 years of our American republic, no secretary of war or secretary of defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations, and in our case, successful ones at that," he said, citing historical examples from Reagan through Biden. He characterized the charges as "policy disagreements; not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery."
"Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen, every one was a lawful operation ordered by the commander in chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress and executed by American warriors who did their jobs," he said.
Hegseth drew support from figures such as President Donald Trump, who has publicly stood by him while calling Massie "a loser." House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has also defended Hegseth while criticizing Massie.
Samaritan's Purse CEO Franklin Graham claimed Monday that Hegseth "is under attack — and it's by Republicans!"
"For the life of me, I don't know why Republicans eat each other. I believe the real reason they are coming after Secretary Hegseth is because he has taken on the anti-God, woke, and DEI initiatives that the Biden administration had pushed down the throats of our military," Graham said in an X post.
"Since Secretary Hegseth has been at the Pentagon, he’s been cleaning house—and millions of Americans are grateful. I encourage everyone to pray for him, that God would give him strength for this difficult hour," he added.
The vote came a week after Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress in the midterms, with the Iran war frequently cited as a top factor in their sweeping electoral defeat. House Republicans may only have delayed Hegseth's impeachment, with Democrats poised to take back control of the legislative branch in January.
