Massie Reintroduces Eight Impeachment Articles Against Hegseth

Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie has reintroduced eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, reading the privileged resolution on the House floor as Congress returned for its lame-duck session.

The move revives a September effort that Speaker Mike Johnson blocked by recessing the chamber early. Massie had said he would bring the articles back after the midterms unless Hegseth resigned.

The resolution is privileged, meaning the House must take it up within two legislative days. Bloomberg reported a floor vote could come as soon as Wednesday.

Eight Articles, Iran at the Core

Massie’s resolution, posted by his office as a House Judiciary referral, charges Hegseth with “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

The first three articles allege violations of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 over hostilities in Iran that began on February 28, 2026: launching the war without a declaration, statute or attack on the United States; continuing after Congress directed a withdrawal through House Concurrent Resolution 86; and remaining in hostilities past the Resolution’s 60-day clock.

Further articles accuse Hegseth of ignoring laws meant to minimize civilian casualties; “extrajudicial killings” tied to lethal strikes on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean; retaliating against Senator Mark Kelly over a video urging service members to refuse unlawful orders; the “kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader” in the January capture of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores; and unlawful war in Yemen under Operation Rough Rider.

Massie argued colleagues who call Hegseth effective are asking the wrong question. “The question is whether he committed impeachable acts, and the answer is yes,” he wrote, linking to the PDF of the articles.

Midterms and Party Split

Republican midterm losses have sharpened the fight. Vice President JD Vance said the day after the election that “the reason we lost is the war.” An estimate put Iran-war costs near $47.1 billion, and exit polling cited by TIME found 74% of voters treated the conflict as a crucial or major factor.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, expected to be the next speaker, said on ABC’s This Week that he is a “hard ‘yes’” on the Hegseth resolution, accusing the secretary of engineering a “reckless and costly war of choice in Iran.” Representatives Adam Smith and Ro Khanna have also pledged support.

Massie, who lost his GOP primary after President Donald Trump backed a challenger, remains in office through the lame duck. Passing impeachment would still require several Republicans to join Democrats.

Trump and Hegseth Push Back

Trump has defended Hegseth, telling CBS’s 60 Minutes the secretary is “guilty of two things: basically winning two wars,” and calling impeachment efforts “very unfair.” He has said he still has confidence in him.

Hegseth dismissed the push in a Nov. 5 video as “sham articles of impeachment” from a “disgruntled, defeated congressman,” saying the tactic “won’t work with me.” On Monday he told reporters the Pentagon is “not worried,” promising a press conference Tuesday, the first at the department since May.

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Hegseth “will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points,” and remains “100% committed” through the end of Trump’s term.

The Washington Post reported Hegseth’s team is circulating talking points that cast the effort as a “politicized spectacle” and urge Republicans to fight while they “still hold the trifecta.”

The renewed floor fight follows weeks of pressure chronicled by Clash Report, including Hegseth’s vow that he will not back down and a broader bipartisan reckoning over the Iran war. Trump has separately backed Hegseth in a 60 Minutes interview while publicly defending the Iran and Venezuela campaigns.