The House is now on the clock to decide whether to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after Republican Rep. Thomas Massie formally introduced a privileged resolution on Monday, triggering a 48-hour window for legislative action.
Massie’s resolution carries eight articles of impeachment, centering primarily on Hegseth’s handling of the war with Iran. The Kentucky congressman accuses the Pentagon chief of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973 by directing military operations against Iran for over 90 days without congressional authorization. The articles also cite failures to minimize civilian casualties, extrajudicial killings in counter-narcotics strikes, and retaliation against Sen. Mark Kelly for defending service members' rights to refuse unlawful orders.
Hegseth, currently attending a defense summit in Manama, Bahrain, dismissed the effort as a "sham" and insisted he is "not worried about that". President Trump has also publicly backed his defense secretary, praising his leadership and arguing that Hegseth has made the world safer.
House leadership now has two days to table the measure, send it to committee, or allow a floor vote—all of which require a simple majority of 218 votes. While the effort is unlikely to result in a Senate conviction during the lame-duck session, Massie noted that the push is partly aimed at forcing the administration to replace Hegseth before Democrats take control of Congress in January.