Hegseth Faces an Impeachment Vote Forced by a Republican Over the Iran War

WASHINGTON — Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, filed eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday, accusing him of “waging the Iran war despite no declaration of war, statutory authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat,” NBC News reported. Because Massie filed the resolution as “privileged,” House leaders are required to bring it to the floor within two legislative days, which puts a vote on the calendar as early as this week.

It is the second time Massie has tried. He first introduced the same eight articles in September, and Speaker Mike Johnson said then that the resolution “will immediately be tabled.” It never came to a vote: Republican leaders sent the House home early for the campaign recess. Massie promised to bring it back after the midterms, and he kept his word less than a week after the votes were counted.

Who is who

For readers outside Washington, and especially for Brazilians following American politics, the cast matters. Thomas Massie has represented Kentucky’s 4th District since 2012. He is a libertarian-leaning Republican, an MIT-trained engineer and one of the few members of his party who has repeatedly voted against President Trump’s priorities. That independence cost him his seat: on May 19, he lost the Republican primary to Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL backed by Trump, in what became the most expensive House primary in U.S. history. Massie leaves Congress in January, which means he has nothing left to lose.

Pete Hegseth is the head of the Pentagon, the cabinet member who runs the U.S. armed forces under the president. A former Army National Guard officer and Fox News host, he was confirmed in January 2025, and the administration now also calls his post “Secretary of War.” Hakeem Jeffries of New York is the leader of the Democrats in the House; he said he is a “hard yes” on impeachment. Mike Johnson of Louisiana is the Republican Speaker, the man who controls the House floor until the new Congress is sworn in on January 3.

What Massie is charging

The core accusation is constitutional. Only Congress can declare war, and the War Powers Resolution of 1973 gives a president 60 days to use force without congressional approval. The war with Iran began in late February with joint U.S.-Israeli strikes. Massie argues Hegseth “abused the powers of his high office” by “directing, authorizing, and sustaining hostile United States military actions in Iran after the expiration of the 60-day period.” The other articles cover strikes on alleged drug boats, which Massie calls “extrajudicial killings,” the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, which he describes as the “kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader,” and unauthorized operations in Yemen.

Hegseth brushed it off. “We’re not worried about that,” he told reporters, promising a Pentagon press conference Tuesday morning. “I hope you’ll all come loaded for bear with your questions.”

How American impeachment works

Impeachment in the United States is a two-step process. The House acts like a grand jury: a simple majority of its 435 members is enough to impeach. The Senate then holds the trial, and removal requires two-thirds of the 100 senators. No cabinet secretary has been removed this way, and the only one impeached in modern times, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024, was acquitted when the Senate dismissed the charges. The most likely outcome this week is a motion to table, which kills the resolution without a direct vote on the charges.

Why it matters for Brazilians

The contrast with Brasília is the story behind the story. In Washington, a single congressman from the president’s own party, defeated and on his way out, can force the entire House to go on record about a sitting cabinet member. In Brazil, impeachment requests live or die in a drawer: the president of the Chamber of Deputies alone decides whether one is ever read, and hundreds have sat untouched for years. The same logic protects the Supreme Court, where requests against Justice Alexandre de Moraes depend on the will of the Senate president, a fight the Watch Post Daily covered in The Senate Fight That Will Decide Whether Moraes Is Impeached and Brazil’s Justices Move to Pick the Senate Leader Who Could Judge Them. And a Brazilian minister accused of a crime of responsibility is not judged by the Senate at all, but by the same Supreme Court that already concentrates so much power.

The record

Confirmed: Massie filed eight articles as a privileged resolution, the House must act on it within two legislative days, Jeffries backs it and Hegseth dismissed it, according to NBC News. Confirmed by the Kentucky results: Massie lost his primary on May 19 and leaves office in January. Reported, not yet tested: whether enough Republicans will break with leadership. Voter anger over the Iran war and higher oil prices has been widely cited for the Democrats’ wins in last week’s midterms, and both Trump and Vice President JD Vance tied the losses to the conflict.

Whatever happens on the floor, the exercise shows something Brazil lacks: a system where power over war can be challenged in public by anyone with a seat, including the president’s own allies. Massie will most likely lose this vote, as he lost his primary. The point is that the vote has to happen, every member has to put a name on it, and voters will remember who said what. That is accountability that does not depend on the goodwill of one man holding a key.

The Watch Post Daily will continue to follow this story. Sources: NBC News; CNN; ABC News; Ballotpedia; U.S. House of Representatives.

Featured image: SecDef Pete Hegseth, April 2025 by the U.S. Department of Defense, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.