House rules require vote on resolution by Thursday
Rep. Thomas Massie on Tuesday read the text of his impeachment resolution on the House floor, framing the action as a response to what he called repeated constitutional violations by Hegseth. The articles center on the war with Iran but extend to military operations in the Caribbean, Venezuela, and Yemen.
“By engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorization, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable,” Massie said in a statement after reading the text of his resolution on the floor of the House.
Massie framed the alleged offenses as a broader pattern of constitutional violations extending beyond the Iran war itself. “Secretary Hegseth’s constitutional violations extend beyond the illegal war in Iran,” he said. “He is abusing the power of his office to ignore congressional war powers resolutions, to kidnap foreign leaders, and to intimidate critics of the Trump administration by retaliating against them for exercising free speech.”
Massie added: “If we are to remain true to our oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States,’ Congress must not turn a blind eye to Secretary Hegseth’s unconstitutional and illegal actions.”
The resolution outlines eight constitutional violations in all. These include attacking Iran without first seeking Congress’s permission, and ignoring a war-powers resolution the House and Senate approved in June that would require an end to the conflict.
Among the specific incidents cited in the articles is a U.S. strike on a school in Minab, Iran, which the resolution says killed more than 168 people. Hegseth is accused of ignoring laws designed to minimize civilian casualties.
The articles also accuse Hegseth of overseeing what Massie characterized as the “extrajudicial killings” of at least 221 people on boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. A separate article accuses Hegseth of “suppressing free speech” by retaliating against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly for his public criticism of the secretary.
The resolution’s final two articles cite Hegseth’s involvement in the military operation that captured Venezuela’s former president Nicolás Maduro, and a bombing campaign in Yemen that began shortly after Trump returned to the White House.
Under House rules, the articles must receive a vote by Thursday. The timing places House Republicans in a bind weeks before the November 3 midterm elections, when the party is defending its control of Congress, and forces the conference to take a public stance on a war that has gone on far longer than Trump said it initially would and grown unpopular with the public.
Massie lost his primary earlier this year after Trump and Hegseth urged voters to oppose him. The articles resemble his previous use of unanimous Democratic support combined with a razor-thin Republican majority to push through a measure requiring the release of files related to the disgraced financier and former Trump associate Jeffrey Epstein. The articles are likely to attract substantial Democratic backing.
Hegseth, a former Fox News host and Army National Guard officer, has maintained Trump’s loyalty even as other cabinet secretaries — including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer — have departed. If the House approves the articles, they would advance to the Senate, where Republican leadership would decide whether to hold a trial.