Washington — The House on Tuesday rejected an impeachment push led by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with the Iran war at the center of the allegations.
Lawmakers voted 211-204 to send the resolution to the Judiciary Committee, a procedural move that effectively ended the effort. Massie, a Kentucky Republican, was the only member of his party to join all Democrats in opposing the referral. While several Republicans have criticized Hegseth’s management of the conflict, which has entered its ninth month, most concluded that his actions did not warrant impeachment.
“I wasn’t surprised, but I was disappointed,” Massie said after the vote. “My diagnosis of Congress is these people know what to do. They just can’t bring themselves to do it, even when it would benefit them politically.”
Massie said Monday that he would not introduce another resolution seeking Hegseth’s impeachment. He is set to leave Congress in early January after losing his primary earlier this year. Democrats could revisit the issue if they regain control of both chambers in January.
“This is not the end of it. It’s just the beginning,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said after the vote.
Massie said Tuesday that he intended to force a separate vote on a war powers resolution.
“We’re going to see all these Republicans who said, ‘Oh, we lost this election because of the war,’ will they still vote for it?” Massie said.
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The impeachment resolution accused Hegseth of overstepping his authority by launching the war with Iran without congressional approval, disregarding laws intended to limit civilian casualties, ordering extrajudicial killings connected to Pentagon boat strikes in the Caribbean, directing the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and retaliating against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, among other claims.
At a news conference Tuesday morning, Hegseth rejected the impeachment effort, describing it as a “farce” and a “political spectacle.”
“None of these are high crimes or misdemeanors,” Hegseth said. “They’re partisan policy disagreements from people who want to politicize our military.”
President Trump ridiculed the effort, declaring that it had “miserably FAILED!”
Seven Republicans and 11 Democrats were absent for the vote.
Only two Cabinet secretaries in U.S. history have faced impeachment. Secretary of War William Belknap was impeached in 1876 amid a corruption scandal, while Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached in 2024 over his handling of the southern border. The Senate acquitted Belknap, and Mayorkas’ charges were later dismissed.
