A Republican congressman plans to force a vote in the House of Representatives this week to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, alleging he has violated the US Constitution.
“By engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorisation, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable,” Representative Thomas Massie said.
The effort will likely fail, as Republicans remain in power in Congress until January. But Massie says the effort is aimed at pushing President Donald Trump to replace Hegseth before Democrats can launch their own impeachment process.
Hegseth has called the impeachment effort a “sham” and defended his record.
He called Massie a “disgruntled, defeated congressman” and said he was not concerned about the impeachment effort. In the video, Hegseth defended his leadership of the department and listed ways he has fulfilled Trump’s America First agenda.
Massie formally introduced his articles of impeachment in a resolution on the House floor on Monday afternoon. The move starts a 48-hour clock for the chamber to take up the measure. Lawmakers could vote on the resolution directly, vote to refer it to committee or to set it aside.
“I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do,” he told reporters after introducing the articles.
Massie, who lost re-election earlier this year, has been critical of Trump and the war in Iran since it started nearly nine months ago. He has previously garnered headlines over demanding the Trump administration release the files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Kentucky congressman first introduced impeachment articles in September and has now brought them back in the wake of Republicans losing control of both the House and Senate in last week’s midterm elections.
He has said the effort was aimed at preventing a Democrat spectacle next year when they have control of Congress. He said he hoped to force Trump to name a replacement, who could be quickly confirmed while Republicans have power.
“My effort to impeach Secretary Hegseth is a much gentler version of what’s coming when the Democrats assume control of the House and Senate next year,” Massie also said in a statement. “They will hold hearings and trials.”
Democratic leadership has signalled openness to such an effort against Hegseth once they take control in January.
Asked about the effort on Monday, Hegseth said, “We’re not worried about that”.
He said he planned to hold a news conference on Tuesday to discuss the subject.
President Trump has indicated that he plans to stick by Hegseth, praising his leadership in the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year and defending his work during the war in Iran.
“We’ve made the world a lot safer place. Why haven’t we gone after all these other people that ran wars and lost?” Trump said on Monday at the White House.
He also touted recruitment numbers under Hegseth.
“The soldiers, the actual soldiers, the great people that do the work, the great patriots, they love Pete Hegseth,” he said. “He’s done a very good job.”
Impeaching a cabinet secretary is rare. It must be approved by both chambers for the secretary to be removed from office.
Trump was impeached by the House twice in his first term in office but was cleared by the Senate after two trials and not removed.
As with the presidential process, the House would first hold a vote on charges against Hegseth and the Senate then would conduct a trial to decide whether to acquit or convict.
The House has voted to impeach only two cabinet members in US history, but the Senate did not convict either one.
While impeachment has been “an incredibly rare process”, it has become far more normalised since the House impeached President Bill Clinton in 1998, said Paul Gowder, a law professor at Northwestern University in Chicago.
He said it has become “much more common as the country has become more politically polarised,” adding a prediction that several more of Trump’s cabinet members may face impeachment over the next two years.
Massie told reporters he was not sure if the measure had sufficient backing to pass. It would need a majority to pass the House and even with all Democratic support, it would still likely need some Republican support as the party holds a slim majority.
Peter Loge, a professor of public affairs at George Washington University, told the BBC that he believed it was likely to pass due to those slim margins.
“There are enough angry Republicans that more than enough Republicans are gonna simply not show up to vote,” he said.
Currently, there are 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats in the House.
While the House requires a simple majority to pass articles of impeachment, the Senate mandates a two-thirds vote to convict, threshold that is difficult to meet in the current congressional term.
When Democrats take over in January, they are likely to have at least 54 Senate seats – though two races do not yet have winners due to slim voting margins. A total of 60 votes will be required to convict and remove an official from office.
