Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who lost a primary to a Trump-backed challenger, introduced articles of impeachment Tuesday against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of defying Congress during the Iran war, suppressing free speech and other offenses.
“In all of this, Secretary Hegseth has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Secretary of Defense and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States of America,” Massie said Tuesday on the House floor.
The eight articles of impeachment introduced by Massie, who is one of the most anti-interventionist members of Congress, accuse Hegseth of violating the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which provides a check on the president’s power to enter armed conflict without consent from the legislative branch.
Under the Vietnam War-era law, the administration must report to Congress within 48 hours of deploying forces into hostilities if Congress hasn’t authorized a declaration of war. Any unauthorized engagement is capped at 60 days, with an additional 30-day window to withdraw. The Iran war began in late February, though the Trump administration has said Operation Epic Fury — the military’s term for the initial operation against Iran — ended in early May.
The House has approved several measures to limit President Trump’s power to strike Iran under the War Powers Resolution, but most of those efforts have failed to advance in the GOP-led Senate. Mr. Trump notified Congress on July 10 that “military action” against Iran had formally restarted after he declared a monthlong ceasefire “over.” Mr. Trump has argued he doesn’t need congressional approval for the Iran war and called the War Powers Resolution unconstitutional.
Under Tuesday’s motion, the House must vote on the impeachment articles in the next two days. The articles are extremely unlikely to advance in a Republican-controlled Congress. Massie said he did not tell anyone that he planned to introduce impeachment articles because GOP leadership “might have canceled” some voting days.
“In the 60-day period following said transmission, Congress did not, and still has not, enacted any declaration or specific statutory authorization for the use of United States armed forces in hostilities against Iran, or extended the applicable 60-day period by law, despite remaining physically capable of meeting and carrying out its constitutional responsibilities,” Massie said in the articles of impeachment.
Massie also accused Hegseth of ignoring laws to minimize civilian casualties in Iran, specifically mentioning the bombing of a girls’ school in Iran shortly after the war began. A preliminary assessment in March found the U.S. was “likely” responsible for the strike, but did not intentionally target the school.
In another one of the articles of impeachment, Massie took aim at Hegseth’s move to demote Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, a retired Navy captain, after Kelly called on service members to “refuse illegal orders.”
Massie accused Hegseth of abusing the “powers entrusted to him by retaliating against a member of Congress for constitutionally protected speech, and attempting to subject a member of a coordinate branch of government to executive branch punishment for the exercise of his legislative and oversight responsibilities.”
In addition to the accusations about Iran, Massie also included articles of impeachment related to the Trump administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean, “kidnapping a sovereign foreign leader” with the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and strikes on Houthi militants and Yemen.
Massie had become a key antagonist of Mr. Trump’s foreign policy, frequently joining Democrats in high-profile votes. Mr. Trump backed a primary challenger in Massie’s Kentucky district, who won the May primary.
Asked for comment on Massie’s impeachment resolution, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson called Hegseth a “transformative leader” who has “slashed bureaucracy, unleashed innovation, and delivered for our warfighters every step of the way.”
“The entire Department is unified behind the Secretary’s vision and will continue working to put our warfighters and America first,” Wilson said.
