Rep. Massie Says He Will Trigger an Impeachment Vote Against Hegseth Next Week as Republicans Turn on the War Secretary After the Midterm Losses
After the Republican midterm rout, pressure inside the party on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth rose quickly. Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky told CNN on November 4 that he plans to trigger a vote to impeach Hegseth when Congress returns next week; multiple Republican sources said they expect the vote to pass, and the House could vote as soon as next week to directly repudiate the Pentagon's top leader.
Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth in September, accusing him of waging war on Iran without congressional authorization, seizing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro without constitutional authority, and killing suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean without judicial authorization. Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House home early at the time, staving off a pre-election vote, and called the impeachment push a stunt.
The post-election landscape has shifted: Vice President JD Vance wrote on November 4 that 'the reason we lost is the war,' and multiple Republicans have privately argued that Hegseth persuaded President Donald Trump to launch the campaign without a clear exit strategy. Massie lost his Republican primary, leaving him only the lame-duck session to pursue the vote. Impeachment requires only a simple majority in the House, while conviction and removal would require two-thirds of the Senate.
Hegseth is not backing down: a person close to him told CNN he still expects to stay in his role and is prepared to fight an impeachment effort. Trump said publicly on November 4 that he would not replace Hegseth, saying he does a very good job. Impeachment resolutions against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have also been filed, but gained no traction in the Republican-led House; Democrats take control of both chambers in January.
Source: CNN
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国会大厦。公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The U.S. Capitol. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
