By Adrian Cole | M•I•A MEDIA GROUP
The effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is coming from inside President Donald Trump’s own party. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, brought an impeachment resolution to the House floor Monday, arguing that Hegseth helped carry out a war in Iran without congressional authorization. The move puts Republicans in a difficult position just days after the midterms. They could be asked to take a public stand on the administration’s conduct of the war while they still control the House.
Hegseth had yet to be impeached as of early Tuesday. Massie, who first introduced impeachment articles in September, brought them back under a procedure that could force House action as soon as this week. Lawmakers could vote to set the measure aside before reaching the charges themselves. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said he supports impeachment, while Trump has publicly defended his defense secretary.
Who gets to decide when a war continues?
Massie’s resolution contains eight charges. At its center is his allegation that the administration continued military operations against Iran for more than 90 days without authorization from Congress, in violation of the War Powers Resolution of 1973. The resolution also cites Hegseth’s role in U.S. military actions involving Yemen and Venezuela. The allegations put a longstanding dispute over war powers into immediate terms. How long can an administration keep U.S. forces engaged in hostilities without lawmakers voting to authorize the operation?
Hegseth has characterized the effort as politically motivated and defended the administration’s military record. Trump has pointed to U.S. operations against Iran and the raid that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as evidence of success. The two sides are asking lawmakers to judge different things. The administration wants Congress to weigh what the operations accomplished. Massie wants Congress to confront whether it allowed the executive branch to exercise authority that lawmakers should have had a chance to approve or deny.
The argument also has consequences outside Washington. The Associated Press reported that Iran disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict, pushing up global oil prices. For Americans who followed the war through headlines about fuel costs as well as reports about military operations, a House vote would put lawmakers on record about how they intend to oversee a conflict with effects far beyond the battlefield.
What a House vote could set in motion
A simple majority in the House can approve an article of impeachment. The case would then go to the Senate, where conviction and removal would require two-thirds of senators present. Even if Massie and Democrats assemble enough votes in the House, the Senate threshold makes removal a much steeper climb. Cabinet impeachments are rare. The House has impeached only two Cabinet secretaries, William Belknap in 1876 and Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024.
The first decision may be whether House members are willing to debate the charges at all. Democrats are set to take control of Congress in January, but Massie’s move forces the issue while Republicans still hold the gavel. For lawmakers who have criticized the war or questioned its cost, the immediate choice is whether to put those concerns on the record when the person facing scrutiny is a member of their own party’s administration.
