Republican Thomas Massie Forces House Vote to Impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth Over the Iran War

A Republican congressman has forced the US House of Representatives towards a vote on impeaching Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, in an extraordinary split inside Donald Trump’s own party. The move comes just days after Republicans suffered heavy losses in the midterm elections, which the president himself has blamed on the unpopular war with Iran.

Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky reintroduced an eight-article impeachment resolution against Hegseth on Monday, 9 November 2026, the first day the House sat after the midterms. Because the resolution was offered as a “privileged” measure, House rules require lawmakers to take it up within two legislative days. A vote could come as early as Wednesday, 11 November.

Hegseth is one of the most controversial figures in the Trump administration and the public face of the Iran war. The impeachment effort is unusual because it is being led by a member of the president’s own party, against a cabinet secretary the president has repeatedly defended.

What Massie has accused Hegseth of

Massie’s resolution contains eight articles of impeachment. It accuses Hegseth of committing “high crimes and misdemeanours” — the constitutional standard for impeachment — and says his leadership at the Pentagon “thus warrants impeachment”.

The articles focus mainly on the war in Iran. Massie accuses Hegseth of waging war against Iran without the approval of Congress, in violation of the War Powers Resolution, the law that requires the president to seek congressional authorisation for sustained military action.

The resolution also covers a series of other military actions. It accuses Hegseth of launching lethal strikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea, of ignoring laws passed by Congress that require the military to take steps to minimise civilian casualties, of carrying out military strikes in Yemen, and of abusing his authority.

Two of the most striking charges concern events beyond the Iran war. Massie accuses Hegseth of capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a military raid, and of using a Pentagon investigation to retaliate against Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona.

Massie has been blunt about what he is — and is not — accusing Hegseth of. “We’re not indicting him for being bad at his job,” he told reporters at a press conference on Capitol Hill. “He was very effective at killing school children in Iran. He was very effective at extrajudicial killings.”

He added: “There’s no argument in these impeachment articles that he’s ineffective. The argument here is that he’s broken laws and he’s violated the Constitution.”

The school strike at the centre of the case

One of the eight articles focuses on a US military strike on an Iranian primary school that, according to the resolution, killed at least 168 people, most of them children, at the start of the war.

The strike hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh school on 28 February. The Pentagon has yet to release the findings of an investigation into the attack.

The school strike has become one of the most sensitive episodes of the war for the administration, and Massie has made it a centrepiece of his case. For his supporters, it is evidence that the Pentagon’s conduct of the war broke the law. For the administration, it is a military matter that is still under investigation.

Massie has said that only Hegseth’s resignation would stop his impeachment effort.

Why a Republican is leading the push

The impeachment push did not come out of nowhere. Massie first introduced the eight articles in September 2026, reading the resolution on the House floor. But the then Speaker, Mike Johnson, sent lawmakers home early to avoid a vote on the measure before the midterm elections.

Massie had to reintroduce the resolution when the House returned, which restarts the two-day clock before a vote can be held.

Massie is an anti-war Republican and one of Trump’s most persistent critics inside the party. He lost his Republican primary this year to a Trump-backed challenger and will leave Congress at the end of the current term. That gives him little to lose politically — and, his critics say, little reason to hold back.

But the timing also reflects something bigger than one congressman. The midterm elections, held on 3 November, were a disaster for the Republicans. Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate, and Trump and Vice President JD Vance have both attributed the losses to the war with Iran and the rise in petrol prices that followed it.

Some Republicans are now openly blaming Hegseth for the defeat. Several have urged the White House to fire him and install a new leader at the Pentagon before the Democrats take control of Congress in January and can, in the words of one report, “grind most confirmations to a halt”.

According to Axios, House Republican leaders expect that enough members of their own party could defect to potentially impeach Hegseth. Representative Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, put it more directly: “I think there are enough Republicans who want him gone.”

James Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee and a prominent Trump ally, has also acknowledged that lawmakers have serious questions about the defence secretary.

Can the impeachment actually pass?

Impeachment in the House requires a simple majority of members present and voting, assuming enough members are present for a quorum. That is a lower bar than most people assume — and it is why the vote matters.

Massie himself says he does not know whether his resolution has enough votes to pass. He has also warned that Speaker Mike Johnson could try to avoid a vote altogether. House Republican leaders could try to table the resolution — effectively killing it without a direct vote — or refer it to a committee, where it could sit indefinitely.

The Democrats’ position is clear. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader who is expected to become the next Speaker of the House in January, has said he supports impeaching Hegseth, calling him “a failure and a disaster for the American people”.

“The fact that Pete Hegseth is still around makes zero sense to a whole lot of people in this country,” Jeffries said. “Hopefully this can come to an end.”

But even if the House does vote to impeach Hegseth, he is unlikely to be removed from office. Impeachment by the House is only the first step. A trial would then take place in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required to convict and remove an official. No such majority is in sight.

That does not make the vote meaningless. An impeachment vote would force every Republican in the House to go on the record about the Iran war and about Hegseth — just weeks after voters punished the party at the ballot box. It would also be a public test of Trump’s authority over his own party.

Hegseth and Trump hit back

Hegseth has vowed to fight the effort to remove him. In a video address on 5 November, he called Massie a “disgruntled, defeated congressman” who had joined with Democrats to bring “sham articles of impeachment against yours truly”.

“Their policies don’t work, so their obsession with political theater, disguised as power, drives them to try to destroy their opponents,” Hegseth said. “Didn’t work against President Trump and it won’t work with me. You can rest assured of that.”

On Monday, 9 November, Hegseth said he was “not worried” about whether he would be impeached. He also announced that he would hold a news conference on Tuesday, 10 November — the Pentagon’s first in more than six months — to defend the Iran war and the military operation against Venezuela.

Massie said he hoped Hegseth would use the press conference to answer the substance of the eight articles rather than deflect. “I hope he addresses the eight articles and doesn’t get up and misquote the Bible in Quentin Tarantino fashion and do some pull-ups and call everybody fat and gay,” Massie said.

Trump has also defended his defence secretary. Asked about Hegseth on 8 November, the president said: “He’s guilty of two things: basically winning two wars. I believe we saved the Middle East and Israel combined.”

The White House’s social media accounts have posted messages praising Hegseth and his record at the Pentagon.

Hegseth’s time at the Pentagon has been marked by a string of controversies beyond the war. They include his use of a commercial messaging app to discuss a military operation, his push to livestream an execution by firing squad, and his public focus on troops’ testosterone levels. His combative approach to the congressional armed services committees — which have traditionally had a close working relationship with the Pentagon’s leader — has alienated lawmakers from both parties.

How rare is impeaching a cabinet secretary?

Impeaching a cabinet secretary is extremely rare in American history. The only previous case was in 1876, when the House impeached Secretary of War William Belknap over corruption. Belknap had already resigned by the time the Senate tried him, and the Senate acquitted him.

No defence secretary has ever been impeached. That is part of what makes this week so remarkable: the question is not only whether Hegseth broke the law, but whether Congress is willing to use its most serious power against a member of the president’s own cabinet.

The Constitution gives the House the “sole power of impeachment”. The process was designed as a check on the executive branch — a way for Congress to remove officials who abuse their office. In practice, it has almost always been used against presidents and judges. Using it against a cabinet secretary would break more than a century of precedent.

What happens next

The immediate question is whether Speaker Johnson allows a vote at all. If he tries to table the resolution or send it to committee, Massie and his supporters will have to decide whether to fight that move on the House floor.

If a vote does take place, it is expected by mid-week. The result will show how many Republicans are prepared to break with Trump over the Iran war — and how many are still willing to defend Hegseth.

Hegseth’s press conference on Tuesday will be watched closely. It is his first Pentagon briefing in more than six months, and he has promised to defend both the Iran war and the Venezuela operation. Massie and his allies will be listening for answers to the eight articles. Trump’s allies will be listening for a defence strong enough to hold the party together.

Beyond this week, the politics are already shifting. Democrats take control of both chambers of Congress when the new Congress convenes on 3 January 2027. Whatever happens with Massie’s resolution now, Hegseth can expect far tougher scrutiny from a Democratic-controlled Congress — including the power to hold hearings, demand documents and block confirmations.

For now, the defence secretary’s fate rests with the House he has spent months antagonising. A vote that would have been unthinkable a year ago is now days — possibly hours — away.

Frequently asked questions

Who is trying to impeach Pete Hegseth?

Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky. He reintroduced an eight-article impeachment resolution on 9 November 2026 and used a parliamentary procedure that forces the House to act on it within two legislative days.

What is Hegseth accused of?

The resolution accuses him of waging war in Iran without congressional approval, launching lethal strikes against alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean, ignoring laws meant to limit civilian casualties, conducting strikes in Yemen, capturing Venezuela’s president in a military raid, and using a Pentagon investigation to retaliate against Senator Mark Kelly.

Has Hegseth been impeached?

No. The House has not voted on the resolution yet. A vote could come as early as Wednesday, 11 November, but the Speaker could also try to table the resolution or refer it to a committee.

Would impeachment remove him from office?

Not by itself. If the House impeached him, the Senate would hold a trial, and two-thirds of senators present would have to vote to convict and remove him. That is considered unlikely.

Why is this happening now?

The push follows the Republicans’ heavy losses in the 3 November midterm elections, in which Democrats won both chambers of Congress. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have blamed the losses on the Iran war and rising petrol prices, and some Republicans now blame Hegseth.

Has a cabinet secretary ever been impeached before?

Only once. In 1876, the House impeached Secretary of War William Belknap over corruption. He had already resigned, and the Senate acquitted him. No defence secretary has ever been impeached.

Conclusion

The vote on Pete Hegseth’s future is about more than one man. It is a test of whether Congress still has the will to check a president’s war-making power, and a test of whether Donald Trump still controls his own party after a bruising midterm defeat.

Thomas Massie, a lame-duck congressman with little left to lose, has forced his colleagues to choose. They can vote to impeach the public face of an unpopular war, or they can vote to protect him — and own the war with him.

The House will make that choice this week. The Senate, the president and the voters will be watching.

Sources

• USA Today, “Republican moves to force Pete Hegseth impeachment vote this week”, 9 November 2026: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/11/09/pete-hegseth-impeachment-republican-thomas-massie/92690293007/
• USA Today, “Hegseth to hold press briefing amid questions about Iran, impeachment”, 9 November 2026: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/11/09/pete-hegseth-pentagon-press-conference-political-future/92693837007/
• Firstpost, “Bye-bye, Pete Hegseth? US defence chief faces impeachment calls from within his own party”, 10 November 2026: https://www.firstpost.com/world/united-states/pete-hegseth-impeachment-push-republican-party-iran-war-14058875.html
• Gulf News, “Trump Faces GOP Rebellion as Hegseth Impeachment Battle Intensifies”, 9 November 2026: https://gulfnews.com/world/americas/trump-faces-republican-revolt-as-hegseth-impeachment-showdown-looms-1.500741081
• The Hindu BusinessLine, “Pete Hegseth impeachment: US lawmaker moves to force House vote over Iran war”, 10 November 2026: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/world/rep-thomas-massie-of-kentucky-launches-bid-to-impeach-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth/article71684127.ece

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.