Thomas Massie

A House Republican is forcing a vote on articles of impeachment targeting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, pushing Republicans into a corner as they grapple with massive midterm election losses that some blame on the war in Iran.

Retiring Rep. Thomas Massie introduced the impeachment articles on Monday seeking to charge Hegseth on eight different counts, including accusations the top defense official launched a war in violation of the Constitution and “ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties.” The move will force House leadership to schedule a vote within the next two legislative days, meaning a vote must happen by Wednesday.

The articles of impeachment come amid growing frustration with Hegseth, particularly as the war in Iran stretches past the eight-month mark.

Massie previously sought to impeach Hegseth before the House adjourned for the election recess period, but House GOP leaders canceled the final two weeks of the September session — delaying any action until after the elections were over.

It’s not yet clear whether Massie has the support for the articles to succeed. However, with possible attendance concerns combined with GOP opposition to the war in Iran, there could be enough Republican defections to pass.

Republican leadership can either put the resolution directly on the floor, or they can offer a motion to table or to refer the motion to its committee of jurisdiction. Voting on either of those motions would effectively kill the resolution without formally considering the articles of impeachment, but it would require a simple majority.

If the articles are approved, Hegseth would be only the third Cabinet member to be impeached in U.S. history. Most recently, Alejandro Mayorkas, the former Homeland Security secretary under the Biden administration, was impeached in 2024 on charges of failing to enforce immigration laws.

Even if the House votes to impeach Hegseth, it’s unlikely he’ll be convicted in the Senate, where it would require a two-thirds majority to pass. It’s not even clear if House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., would send the articles to the Senate if they do succeed.

President Donald Trump has pushed back against Massie’s efforts to impeach Hegseth, defending his conduct and handling of the Iran war. Even as some Trump administration officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance, have distanced themselves from the war, the president has still maintained it was crucial to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the impeachment efforts targeting Hegseth “unfair,” telling reporters on Monday he believes the defense secretary has done a “good job.”

“The Department of War and the Pentagon in particular have been responsible for many of the important things this administration is working on,” Rubio said. “I think the damage that was inflicted on the Iranian military structures — they have no navy, they have no air force, they’re deeply degraded from a military standpoint — they still retain military capabilities, obviously, but they are very degraded from where they were a year ago at this time.”

“I think from the perspective that I sit in and the seat that I’m in as the national security adviser, and secretary of state for that matter, Pete has done a very good job,” Rubio added. “He really has.”

Massie pushed back on that assessment, noting his articles of impeachment were not targeting Hegseth for “being bad at his job.”

“In fact he was very effective at killing school children in Iran. He was very effective at extrajudicial killings,” Massie said to reporters on Monday, about his accusations against Hegseth. “There’s no argument in these impeachment articles that he’s ineffective.”

Hegseth has brushed off the impeachment effort even as some Republicans point to the conflict as one of the reasons why their party lost control of both the House and Senate.

“I’m not going to get in the middle of a finger-pointing exercise,” Hegseth said. “Ultimately, when the president says he’d do it again, I agree.”

Hegseth is expected to hold a press conference on Tuesday at the Pentagon.