House Poised to Vote on Impeaching Hegseth as Republicans Turn on Him
Rep. Thomas Massie says he will force a vote when Congress returns, and GOP sources expect it to pass after midterm losses tied to the Iran war.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is heading toward a House vote on his impeachment, with multiple Republican sources telling CNN they expect the measure to pass. It would be the first impeachment of a sitting defense secretary since 1876.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican and a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, told CNN he plans to force the vote when Congress returns this coming week. The push comes weeks before the Democratic majority elected on Tuesday is sworn in, and it follows a night of heavy Republican losses.
Massie has introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth that cite his handling of military operations, including the war with Iran. Because the resolution is privileged, it can be forced to the House floor within two legislative days, which limits how long party leaders can delay it. Reporting on the effort has described Speaker Mike Johnson sending the chamber into an early recess rather than bringing it up.
Many Republicans now blame Hegseth for persuading Trump to attack Iran with what they describe as no exit strategy. Strategists in the party say privately that its problems run deeper than the war, but the conflict was a central issue in the midterms, and Vice President JD Vance has acknowledged the damage it did to the party.
The pressure is also coming from inside the Senate. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who voted to confirm Hegseth last year, now backs impeachment. Tillis has said he would leave the procedure to the House, but he has said Hegseth needs to go, whether through impeachment or a quicker route. Tillis is retiring from the Senate, and his vote would matter in any later confirmation fight.
The White House is standing by Hegseth. Insiders say Trump supports his defense secretary and wants him to fight the effort, and Trump has said that while the Iran war affected the election, he is not considering replacing Hegseth. According to The Wall Street Journal, Hegseth released a Pentagon video this weekend vowing to fight the impeachment.
Many House Republicans remain reluctant to break with Trump, and an impeachment vote would force every member to go on record on the Iran war and on the Pentagon's leadership. A House impeachment would send the case to the Senate for a trial, where a two-thirds vote is needed to convict. That bar is very high, and Republicans still hold seats there until the new Congress takes over in January.
If the House does vote to impeach, Hegseth would join a short list of cabinet officials to face the process. The last defense chief to be impeached was William Belknap, the secretary of war in 1876, who resigned before the Senate trial. Whatever happens next week, the vote itself would show how far Trump's party is willing to go in distancing itself from the war now that voters have delivered their verdict.
