Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Nov. 9 introduced articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Among the charges against Hegseth, Massie accused the war secretary of violating three provisions of the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
The resolution is aimed at limiting the authority of the president to sustain military actions beyond 60 days without congressional approval.
Massie’s introduction of the articles will force the U.S. House to act on eight charges against Hegseth, expected by mid-week. Speaking from the House floor on Nov. 9, Massie said the impeachment articles were for alleged “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
“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 statement before introducing the articles on Nov. 9.
“Secretary Hegseth’s constitutional violations extend beyond the illegal war in Iran. He is abusing the power of his office to ignore congressional war powers resolutions, to kidnap foreign leaders, and to intimidate critics of the Trump administration by retaliating against them for exercising free speech.”
Massie described his effort to impeach Hegseth on Nov. 9 as a “much gentler version” of what Democratic lawmakers could do when they form the majorities in the House and Senate in January following sweeping Democratic victories in the midterm elections.
Massie warned that Democratic lawmakers will hold hearings and trials and suggested that President Donald Trump replace Hegseth while he is still able to have a replacement nominee confirmed in the Senate under a Republican majority.
The articles of impeachment included waging war in Iran without a declaration of war authorized by Congress, continuing the Iran war after Congress directed the removal of U.S. forces, and continuing the conflict in Iran after the expiration of the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day termination period and any potential 30-day withdrawal period.
The other charges listed by Massie include alleged kidnapping of a foreign leader, ignoring laws intended to minimize civilian casualties, carrying out extrajudicial killings, suppressing free speech by retaliating against comments made by Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and engaging in an unlawful war in Yemen.
To impeach the war secretary, only a simple majority vote would be needed in the House. However, it would require a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to convict him.
“I think the secretary has presided over an illegal war for the last several months without authorization from Congress, without funding from Congress, with no information to the Congress, and his decision to let go so many members of the military leadership with no rationale to me is incredibly disturbing,” Rep. Joseph Morelle (D-N.Y.) told The Epoch Times on Nov. 9 when asked about the impeachment articles.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Nov. 9 that the impeachment of a Cabinet secretary, especially the war secretary, in the middle of what he described as “hostilities abroad” would be a “terrible thing” for America’s allies and enemies to witness.
“We don’t impeach Cabinet secretaries for political gain or for cheap tricks, and I think that’s what this is, and I think everybody knows what it is,” he said.
Speaking with reporters after visiting the Naval War College in Rhode Island on Nov. 9, Hegseth said he is ready to defend his tenure at the Pentagon.
When asked about the looming threat of impeachment, Hegseth said: “We’re not worried about that.
“In fact, we’re going to do a press conference tomorrow morning at the Pentagon on that very topic. So I’ll save my remarks there.”
The Nov. 10 press conference will be the first Hegseth has held at the Pentagon since May. It will also be his first full press conference since the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections, in which Republicans lost their majorities in both the House and Senate.
Following the Republican electoral defeat, Vice President JD Vance published a lengthy social media post in which he assessed that the Iran conflict cost Republicans critical electoral support heading into the midterms.
President Donald Trump has since said that he doesn’t disagree with Vance’s assessment but that he made the right decision to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Hegseth echoed Trump’s defense of the war on Nov. 9.
“You can’t let crazy Islamists have a nuclear bomb,” Hegseth told reporters. “And so the choice was: don’t act and wish it away, or take a bold move, which the president did.”
As he spoke with reporters on Nov. 9, Hegseth touted other foreign policy initiatives made by the Trump administration, including urging European allies to shoulder more of the burden for their collective defense, strengthening alliances in the Pacific, and leading counter-cartel operations in the Western Hemisphere.
“There’s a lot of politically motivated people who may have substantial policy disagreements, but their disagreements are with success,” Hegseth said.
During a press conference at the White House on Nov. 9, Trump said he would stand by Hegseth even if the war secretary is impeached.
“He won two wars. He was in charge. We all won. I had great people,” Trump said.
The president criticized Massie.
“He shouldn’t be taking up the time of Congress or the Senate or anything that he’s doing,” he said.
Trump further defended his administration’s military actions, saying, “We won two wars, and we’ve made the world a lot safer place,” and questioned why past officials who oversaw less successful wars had not faced similar scrutiny.
Last week, House Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) forecast intensifying oversight of the Pentagon when Democrats take control of Congress in January. Smith said some of the oversight efforts would focus on the Iran war, which he alleged to be an illegal affair.
Smith said other congressional oversight efforts would scrutinize what he described as “sweetheart deals and favoritism” in the Pentagon’s process for awarding contracts and other forms of financial support. He said Congress could also scrutinize “unauthorized military strikes” throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
During a press conference on Nov. 9, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) reiterated his support for Hegseth’s impeachment. Jeffries previously said on Nov. 8 that he was a “hard yes” on supporting an impeachment resolution.
“Pete Hegseth has abused his power, undermined America’s national security, and he’s the architect of the reckless and costly failed war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed gas prices on everyday Americans, made the country less safe, and Iran is stronger now than they were before operation epic failure, led by Pete Hegseth, began,” he told reporters.
Nathan Worcester contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this article mischaracterized the House’s requirement to vote on the resolution. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
