Republican Representative Thomas Massie plans to reintroduce eight articles of impeachment against Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth when the House of Representatives returns next week, forcing a vote that Republican sources tell CNN they expect to pass. If the House impeaches Hegseth, he would become only the third cabinet secretary in American history to be impeached — and the first from his own party to face a vote driven by a member of that party.
Massie told CNN he plans to trigger the vote when Congress returns, and told ABC News he intends to reintroduce the resolution on Monday or Tuesday, 9 or 10 November. The move comes days after Republicans suffered heavy losses in Tuesday's midterm elections, with many in the party blaming Hegseth for pushing President Donald Trump into the war in Iran.
The vote Massie plans to force
Massie will file the resolution as a privileged resolution, a procedural device that skips committee. Once the parliamentarian signs off, the Speaker must schedule a vote within two legislative days — though House leadership can try to kill it with a motion to table. Massie first introduced the eight-article, 34-page resolution in September, reading it aloud on the House floor for more than 67 minutes on Tuesday 15 September. The House never voted on it after Speaker Mike Johnson cancelled the chamber's remaining floor votes before the midterm recess.
Massie has set one condition for dropping the effort. In a post on X on 4 November, he wrote: "There is one contingency in which I won't reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns." Hegseth has refused. In a five-minute video posted to social media on Thursday, he dismissed the effort as "political theater" and vowed not to back down, calling Massie "a disgruntled, defeated congressman" who had filed "sham articles of impeachment".
Massie is a lame duck. He lost his Republican primary in May to a Trump-backed challenger and will not return next term, so the current session of Congress is his only window to pursue the impeachment. He has said he waited until September's final sitting days because it was the last possible moment to force consideration of a privileged resolution before the recess, and that he had exhausted every other legislative route to stop the Iran war.
What the eight articles allege
The articles accuse Hegseth of violating the Constitution and federal law. Three of the eight centre on the War Powers Resolution and the war in Iran: that Hegseth waged hostilities without congressional authorisation, and continued them after Congress directed withdrawal. That directive, House Concurrent Resolution 86, ordered the removal of US forces from hostilities with Iran absent a declaration of war or a specific authorisation for the use of military force.
The remaining articles cover a wider set of charges, as described by Massie and reported by ABC News and CNN:
- Ignoring laws designed to minimise civilian casualties in military operations.
- Waging what the resolution calls an "unlawful war" in Yemen.
- Ordering extrajudicial killings through lethal strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels.
- Suppressing free speech and retaliating against Senator Mark Kelly, whom Hegseth formally censured after Kelly reminded service members of their duty to refuse unlawful orders.
- Kidnapping a sovereign leader — an allusion to the US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro early this year.
Impeachment articles are charges, not findings. Nothing in the resolution has been adjudicated by a court or a congressional committee. The allegations are Massie's, and the Pentagon has rejected them, defending Hegseth in a statement to ABC News.
Why now: the midterm rout
The impeachment push has gained momentum because of Tuesday's election results. CNN reported that Republican lawmakers and allies are now pinning the midterm wipeout on Hegseth, with anonymous Republican sources saying he oversold the United States' ability to overpower Iran and continued to advocate escalation even when it was clear that military force would not bring Tehran's government to surrender.
Massie told CNN he believes enough Republicans could join Democrats to pass the measure, and multiple Republican sources told the network they expect it to pass. That expectation is not a confirmed vote count — it rests on anonymous sources — but the arithmetic makes a House vote genuinely close.
| Chamber | What it takes | Where the numbers stand |
|---|---|---|
| House (now) | Simple majority — 218 votes | Democrats hold 214 seats; a handful of Republican defections would be enough |
| House (from January) | Simple majority — 218 votes | Democrats are on track for about 240 seats, enough to pass articles without Republican support |
| Senate (removal) | Two-thirds majority — 67 votes | Democrats will hold at most 56 seats, so at least 11 Republicans would have to join them |
The new members elected on Tuesday do not take office until January, so any vote next week would be decided by the outgoing, still Republican-controlled House. That is what makes the prospect of Republican defections so striking: the vote would be carried, if it passes at all, by members of Hegseth's own party.
Hegseth and Trump push back
President Trump has publicly stood by his defence secretary. In an interview with ABC News chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl on Thursday, Trump said he intends to keep Hegseth, dismissing Massie's effort. Hegseth's video the same day struck a defiant tone, framing the impeachment push as an attempt by a defeated congressman and his Democratic allies to undermine the administration's national security strategy. The Pentagon maintains that Hegseth intends to remain in office through the end of Trump's presidency.
But the political ground has shifted. Democrats are preparing to use their incoming congressional majorities and subpoena powers to scrutinise Hegseth's management of the Pentagon, including the Iran war, the legality of the strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels, and his dismissal of senior military officers. Massie has warned that his resolution is a far gentler version of what Democrats could pursue once they control the committees.
"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."
That is the resolution's own language, as Massie read it on the House floor in September. It goes on to say Hegseth "thus warrants impeachment and trial, removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the United States".
What history says about the odds
Only two cabinet secretaries have ever been impeached by the House: William Belknap, the secretary of war, in 1876, and Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, in 2024. Both were acquitted in the Senate. No cabinet secretary has ever been removed from office through impeachment, and the Senate arithmetic — 67 votes, with Democrats holding at most 56 — makes removal unlikely even if the House acts.
That does not make the House vote symbolic. A successful impeachment would be the first of a cabinet secretary in more than a century, a formal judgment by Congress on the conduct of the Iran war — and it would force every Republican in the outgoing House to go on the record on Hegseth's tenure, days after an election in which voters punished the party over the war.
What is not yet known: whether enough Republicans will actually defect. The expectation that the resolution could pass comes from anonymous Republican sources speaking to CNN, not from named lawmakers committing their votes. Massie's co-sponsor is Representative Yassamin Ansari, a Democrat from Arizona. Until the vote is called, the count is a prediction, not a fact.
Frequently asked questions
What is a privileged resolution?
A privileged resolution is a procedural device that forces the House to act on a matter quickly, bypassing committee. Once it is filed and the parliamentarian signs off, the Speaker must schedule a vote or other disposition within two legislative days. Leadership can still try to defeat it with a motion to table, which would kill the resolution without a vote on its merits.
What does impeachment actually do?
Impeachment by the House is the equivalent of an indictment: it formally charges an official with wrongdoing. It does not remove them from office. Removal requires a trial in the Senate and a two-thirds vote to convict — 67 senators. An impeached official who is acquitted, as Belknap and Mayorkas were, stays in office.
Why does Massie say the Iran war was unlawful?
Massie's central argument is that the war was waged without congressional authorisation, in breach of the War Powers Resolution, and continued after the House directed the removal of US forces from hostilities with Iran. The administration disputes that characterisation and says the operations were lawful. The disagreement is constitutional and political, not a settled legal finding.
Could the Senate really remove Hegseth?
Only if at least 11 Republican senators joined all Democrats, assuming Democrats hold the maximum 56 seats projected for the new Senate. No Republican senator has publicly committed to convicting him. The more likely consequence of a House impeachment is political: a formal rebuke, and a precedent for the investigations Democrats plan in January.
Key takeaways
- Rep. Thomas Massie plans to reintroduce eight articles of impeachment against Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday or Tuesday, when the House returns.
- The articles centre on the Iran war, alleging violations of the War Powers Resolution, and also cover civilian casualties, lethal strikes on suspected drug boats, retaliation against Senator Mark Kelly, the Yemen war, and the capture of Nicolás Maduro.
- CNN reports multiple Republican sources expect the resolution to pass the House, where Democrats need only a handful of Republican votes to reach 218.
- Removal is far less likely: the Senate would need 67 votes to convict, and Democrats will hold at most 56 seats.
- Trump and Hegseth have both rejected the effort — Trump says he intends to keep Hegseth, and Hegseth calls the articles a "sham" and "political theater".
What to watch next: the House returns on Monday 9 November. If Massie reintroduces the resolution as planned, the privileged clock starts, and the Speaker will have two legislative days to schedule a vote or a motion to table. The count to watch is the number of Republicans willing to break with their party's defence secretary — and whether any of them say so publicly before the vote is called.
