Rep. Thomas Massie appears determined to force the House to vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, putting Republicans in the awkward position of deciding whether to help remove one of their own administration’s most prominent officials just weeks before they surrender control of Congress.
Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment Monday and used a privileged resolution that could force action in the House within days. The charges cover the Iran war, military operations in Venezuela and Yemen, civilian casualties and alleged retaliation against Sen. Mark Kelly. Roll Call reported that Massie has not claimed commitments from fellow Republicans, although he believes some may ultimately join him.
The real question for the rest of the GOP is less whether Massie has legitimate complaints about Hegseth than what Republicans actually gain by turning those complaints into an impeachment. Democrats take control of the House in January and have already signaled that Hegseth will remain a target. Republicans could therefore spend the final weeks of their majority helping impeach him, split publicly with Trump and still fall far short of the Senate votes needed to remove him from office.
Massie Can Force an Uncomfortable Vote
Massie’s argument is straightforward. Congress has constitutional authority over war, and he believes Hegseth and the administration exceeded that authority during the conflict with Iran and other military operations. Three of the articles focus directly on continuing military action beyond the limits of the War Powers Resolution without a new congressional authorization, while others deal with civilian protections and military actions elsewhere. Reuters has a concise breakdown of all eight articles.
Massie has also made clear that he does not view party loyalty as a reason to ignore what he considers constitutional violations. That position is consistent with his long-running criticism of executive war powers under presidents of both parties. From his perspective, waiting for Democrats to enforce limits on a Republican administration would defeat the purpose of Congress having those powers in the first place.
Other Republicans are much less certain that impeachment is the appropriate remedy. Rep. French Hill said over the weekend that he wanted to hear the case before deciding whether Hegseth’s actions rise to the level of impeachment or warrant some lesser disciplinary response. CBS News reported that several Republicans remain critical of Hegseth while stopping short of backing Massie’s resolution.
Even a Successful House Vote Probably Wouldn’t Remove Hegseth
That is where the practical politics become difficult. If Democrats vote together, Massie may need only a handful of Republicans to get the articles through the House, particularly with attendance uncertain during a lame-duck session. Some Republicans who lost reelection may also feel less pressure from party leadership or the White House than they did before Election Day.
But impeachment is only the first step. Hegseth would remain in office unless two-thirds of the Senate voted to convict him. Republicans still control the chamber for the remainder of this Congress, and even when Democrats take the majority in January they will not have anything close to 67 votes on their own. A substantial Republican revolt in the Senate would still be required.
That means House Republicans considering whether to join Massie have to weigh an unusual outcome: they could help deliver an impeachment of Trump’s defense secretary without having enough votes to remove him. Hegseth would stay at the Pentagon, Trump would continue defending him, and the GOP would have opened another major internal fight only days after losing both chambers of Congress.
Trump has already signaled where he stands. Speaking Monday, he defended Hegseth and questioned why previous officials were not subjected to the same standard over earlier wars. Trump’s remarks made clear that he considers the impeachment effort another political attack rather than a legitimate reason to remove Hegseth.
Democrats Can Take Up the Issue in January Anyway
The timing gives Republicans another reason to question the benefit of moving now. Democrats will control the House in less than two months and have already made clear that Hegseth will face aggressive scrutiny once they hold committee gavels and subpoena power.
Incoming Democratic leadership has signaled support for the impeachment effort, and Hegseth’s conduct during the Iran war is likely to be a major subject of hearings next year whether Massie’s resolution passes or fails. Roll Call reported that Democrats are preparing broader oversight of the Pentagon and administration war policy once the new Congress convenes.
From a purely political perspective, Republicans could simply let Democrats own that fight. If the incoming majority wants to investigate Hegseth, subpoena officials and eventually impeach him, Democrats will have the votes to do so without Republican assistance. GOP members who have concerns about Hegseth could still criticize him, vote against his priorities or pressure Trump privately without helping Democrats begin the process early.
For Massie, of course, that argument misses the point. If he believes Hegseth committed impeachable offenses, waiting until the opposition party takes control would amount to choosing political convenience over the constitutional responsibility he says Congress has abandoned for too long.
Republicans Have Other Ways to Fight With Hegseth
That distinction may determine how many Republicans ultimately join him. There is a large gap between believing Hegseth has handled the Iran war badly and believing that he should be impeached. Members who fall into the first category have several other tools available to them, including hearings, funding restrictions, war-powers resolutions, legislation and direct pressure on Trump to replace the secretary.
Those alternatives would also avoid turning Hegseth into the center of another impeachment battle at the same moment Republicans are trying to understand why they lost the midterms. The Iran war is already producing significant disagreement inside the party, with Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans pointing to the conflict as one reason voters turned against the GOP. Adding an impeachment fight would turn that policy dispute into a much more personal test of loyalty to Hegseth and Trump.
Republicans also have recent experience with an impeachment that produced little practical result. The GOP-controlled House impeached Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024, only for the Democratic Senate to dismiss the articles without removing him. The circumstances are different, but the episode demonstrated how impeachment can deliver a political rebuke while leaving the officeholder and the underlying policy dispute exactly where they were before.
The Bigger Fight Is Inside the GOP
Massie’s resolution therefore matters even if Hegseth never comes close to being removed. It forces Republicans to decide how far they are willing to take their growing disagreement over the administration’s foreign policy and the Iran war.
Some members may agree with Massie’s constitutional argument but conclude impeachment is the wrong tool. Others may view Hegseth as politically damaged and still decide that helping Democrats impeach him weeks before they take control serves little purpose. A smaller group may decide that if Congress believes a Cabinet secretary violated the law or Constitution, the party controlling the House should act regardless of who benefits politically.
That is what makes the vote more interesting than the eventual Senate math. Hegseth is unlikely to be removed without a dramatic change in Republican support, and Democrats can reopen the entire matter once they take power in January. What Massie can do now is force Republican members to put their names behind one side of the argument.
For a party coming off a major midterm defeat, that may be the only immediate consequence of the impeachment push: another public fight over the direction of the administration, with very little chance that the person at the center of it actually leaves office.