The Kentucky Republican declares he will compel a House floor vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
On Tuesday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.) announced his intention to maneuver a House examination of Hegseth’s conduct through an impeachment vote.
Massie has put eight impeachment articles before the chamber, accusing Hegseth of mishandling the ongoing conflict with Iran, endorsing extrajudicial killings of alleged drug traffickers through the Pentagon, and seeking to retaliate against Senator Mark Kelly (D–Ariz.), among other allegations.
In a statement, Massie contended that Hegseth is “misusing the power of his office to bypass congressional war powers resolutions, to seize foreign leaders, and to intimidate Trump administration critics by retaliating against them for exercising their free speech rights.”
Although the odds of passage are slim in the House, which is controlled by Republicans, the chamber’s rules permit members to present impeachment resolutions directly to the floor at any time. This provision would enable Massie to compel a recorded vote on Hegseth’s conduct from every member.
The initial trio of impeachment articles concerns the War Powers Act of 1973, which requires presidents to obtain congressional authorization within 60 days for an ongoing war. That window has closed.
Massie asserts that Hegseth breached the War Powers Resolution by initiating combat without proof of an imminent threat, persisting after Congress enacted a resolution demanding an end to the conflict, and ignoring withdrawal deadlines established by Congress. The filings claim Hegseth has “treated mandatory statutory deadlines as discretionary.”
Two additional articles address American strikes in Iran and near Venezuela. Massie argues that Hegseth ignored statutes designed to minimize civilian casualties—principally tied to the February 28 strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School. Pentagon officials allegedly overlooked warnings about outmoded intelligence before that attack, which killed dozens of civilians, including many children.
“Secretary Hegseth willfully and systemically refused to comply with laws and directives designed to safeguard civilians during armed conflict, chilled and rendered ineffective such provisions intended to prevent and reduce harm to civilians, and thus foreseeably caused the death and injury of over 200 civilians, to the tangible detriment of the United States,” the filings state, in part. “Such conduct reflects not only a lapse in judgment, but an extraordinary abuse of the powers entrusted to the Secretary of Defense and a profound disregard for the civilians his Department must shield and the service members he leads.”
A subsequent article cites extrajudicial actions under the Trump administration against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea, actions that have killed more than 200 people. These operations are described as summary executions, executed without charges or trials, and they have not curtailed the flow of illegal drugs into the United States.
According to the impeachment papers, such actions demonstrate that Hegseth would continue to threaten civilians, the laws of war, the credibility of U.S. diplomacy, and the Constitution if he remains in office.
The sixth impeachment article contends he violated Senator Kelly’s First Amendment rights by attempting to retaliate against him. A federal judge has already found that Hegseth acted unlawfully when he sought to strip Kelly of his rank and a portion of his military pension after Kelly reminded troops of their duty to refuse illegal orders.
The final two articles concern U.S. military actions in Venezuela and Yemen. Massie contends that the kidnapping of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro was conducted without proper constitutional or legal authority. He likewise opposes ongoing airstrikes in Yemen, which he says caused civilian casualties and lacked congressional authorization.
“If we are to stay true to our oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States,’ Congress must not overlook Secretary Hegseth’s unconstitutional and illegal actions,” Massie declared in a statement.
Indeed, the Constitution assigns Congress the ultimate authority over war and military operations. It also emphasizes Congress’s role in holding executive branch officials accountable for breaking the law. Impeachment is presented as the appropriate remedy for what Massie describes as Hegseth’s blatant disregard for civilian lives and the boundaries of his office.
