A Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives announced plans to force an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives this week, claiming that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth violated the Constitution.
Representative Thomas Massey said, “Minister Hegseth violated the Constitution by carrying out hostile acts in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional approval, and he must be held accountable for this.”
Since the Republican Party will maintain its majority position in Congress until January next year, it is highly likely that this impeachment bill will not be passed. However, Massey later explained that the move was intended to pressure President Donald Trump to push for a replacement of the minister before the Democratic Party begins its own impeachment process.
Meanwhile, Minister Hegseth defended his actions, calling the impeachment attempt a "fraud."
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In a video statement released last week, Minister Hegseth emphasized, "As you can see, they are attacking me because we are making progress," and added, "(But) it will not work. We will not back down."
He then called Rep. Massey a "disgruntled and defeated congressman" and said he was not concerned about the impeachment attempt.
In the video, he also defended the way his Department of Defense was run and listed how he implemented President Trump's 'America First' agenda.
Rep. Massey officially submitted the impeachment bill through a resolution at the plenary room of the House of Representatives on the afternoon of the 9th (local time). Accordingly, the 48-hour deadline for the House of Representatives to deal with the matter began. Members can vote on the resolution directly, or refer it to a committee or put it on hold through a vote.
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“I’m pushing for this because it’s the right thing to do,” Massey explained at a press conference after submitting the articles of impeachment.
Rep. Massey, who failed to run for re-election earlier this year, is a person who has consistently criticized President Trump and the Iran war that started about nine months ago. In the past, he received media attention by pressuring the Trump administration to release documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Representative Lee from Kentucky first submitted a motion to impeach Minister Hegseth last September. And when the Republican Party lost its majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives in last week's midterm elections, it again submitted an article of impeachment.
He explained that his impeachment push was a measure to prevent the political battle that will take place after the Democratic Party takes control of Congress next year. He added that he would like to urge President Trump to nominate a successor while the Republican Party maintains power in Congress and to quickly complete the confirmation process.
Representative Massey also said in a statement, “What I am trying to do to impeach Secretary Hegseth now is a moderate level compared to what will happen when the Democratic Party takes control of the House and Senate next year,” and added, “The Democratic Party will proceed with hearings and trials.”
In fact, the Democratic Party leadership is openly suggesting that they may take action against Minister Hesses if they take control of Congress in January of next year.
On the 9th, Minister Hegseth responded to this impeachment movement, saying, “We are not worried about that.” He then announced that he plans to hold a press conference on the 10th to discuss this.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump highly praised the leadership shown by the Minister during the U.S. arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this year, and also mentioned the achievements made in the war with Iran and expressed his position to continue to support Minister Hegseth.
President Trump asked at the White House on the 9th, "We have made the world a much safer place. Why don't we hold other people responsible for fighting wars and losing?"
He also emphasized Minister Hegseth's military recruitment performance during his tenure.
“Soldiers, real soldiers, great people who actually do the job, great patriots love Hegseth,” Trump said, adding, “He did a really good job.”
Meanwhile, the impeachment of a cabinet minister is rare. In the United States, the approval of both houses of Congress is required to remove a minister through impeachment.
President Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives during his first term, but was acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial after two trials and was not removed from office.
As with the presidential impeachment process, the House of Representatives will first vote on the article of impeachment against Secretary Hegseth. After the impeachment bill is passed, the Senate will conduct an impeachment trial to decide whether or not the person is guilty.
In U.S. history, only two Cabinet members have been impeached by the House of Representatives, but neither were found guilty in the Senate.
Paul Gorder, a law professor at Northwestern University in Chicago, said impeachment used to be "an extremely rare procedure," but has become much more frequent since the House impeached President Bill Clinton in 1998.
“As political polarization intensifies, impeachment has become much more common,” he said, predicting that other members of President Trump’s cabinet could also face impeachment in the next two years.
Meanwhile, Rep. Massey admitted at a press conference that he was not sure whether this impeachment bill had enough support to pass. A majority vote is required to pass the House of Representatives, and even if it receives full support from the Democratic Party, the Republican Party holds a narrow majority, so support from some Republican lawmakers is likely to be needed as well.
Peter Lodge, a professor of public policy at George Washington University, predicted in an interview with the BBC that the bill would likely pass given this narrow margin of seats.
“Because there are many angry Republican lawmakers, many Republican lawmakers will not participate in the vote at all,” he explained.
Currently, there are 218 Republican lawmakers and 214 Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives.
To pass an article of impeachment in the House of Representatives, only a simple majority is required, but to convict in the Senate, a two-thirds majority must vote in favor. This seems difficult to achieve under the current state of parliament.
Although the winner has not yet been confirmed due to the narrow difference in votes in two constituencies, the Democratic Party is expected to secure at least 54 seats in the Senate and become the majority party in January next year. A total of 67 votes in favor are needed to convict and remove the official.
October 11, 2026 – The article was revised to reflect that 67 affirmative votes are needed in the U.S. Senate to remove an official.
