The House voted Tuesday evening to send the proposed impeachment articles against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the House Judiciary Committee, effectively quashing an effort to oust Hegseth from his cabinet post.
In a 211 to 204 vote, House Republicans sidestepped an effort proposed by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky to impeach Hegseth. Massie charged that Hegseth was negligent and conducted illegal activity in his handling of counternarcotics operations and extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean and Pacific; attacking Iran in February without congressional approval; retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for the veteran lawmaker’s statements to troops on illegal orders; capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro without a declaration of war; and other operations.
“Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth, by such conduct, has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with his duties and the rule of law,” the articles stated.
The decision to send the articles to the Judiciary Committee likely delays the vote until January, when Democrats take over the majority in Congress.
As of Thursday, Democrats won 256 seats in the House to the Republicans’ 168, while in the Senate, Democrats have at least 54 seats to 44 Republican seats.
If the House votes to impeach Hegseth next year, a two-thirds majority would be needed on any of the articles to force Hegseth out of office.
In a rare news conference Tuesday morning before the vote, Hegseth called Massie a “disgruntled and defeated congressman” seeking to “do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it.”
Noting that President Donald Trump was impeached twice but not convicted, Hegseth said he would “take that company every day of the week.”
“These resolutions are a farce. They mock the Constitution. They attack the chain of command, and they criminalize the warfighters who execute lawful orders,” Hegseth said.
Trump has said he would stand by his defense secretary, saying Monday that he’s “done a very good job.”
If the effort had succeeded, it would have marked the second impeachment of a U.S. defense secretary and third of a cabinet member. In 2024, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached over President Joe Biden’s immigration policies at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Senate voted to dismiss the charges before it went to trial.
Secretary of War William Belknap was impeached in 1876 on corruption charges shortly after he resigned. He was later acquitted in the Senate.
A survey released in October by the military-veterans advocacy non-profit Common Defense found that troops and family members are uncomfortable with what they see as the politicization of the armed forces.
According to the survey, conducted by Change Research, 54% of active-duty personnel surveyed disapproved of Hegseth, while 64% of military family members disapproved.
A majority of the group of 731 active-duty troops, veterans and military family members also believe decisions within the department were being made for political gain, and 53% of active-duty personnel said the politicization was making them want to leave the military sooner than anticipated.
Nearly half the active-duty personnel also said they oppose Operation Epic Fury, the United States’ operation against Iran.
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