House Could Impeach Hegseth This Week as GOP Leaders Brace for Defections

House Republican leaders are bracing for enough GOP defections to impeach War Secretary Pete Hegseth when lawmakers return this week, a vote that would have been unthinkable before Tuesday’s midterm rout.

Axios reported Sunday that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) plans to force a floor vote on his resolution accusing Hegseth of defying Congress and illegally continuing the U.S. war with Iran.

Republicans who lost their seats Tuesday have little left to lose, Axios reported, and Hegseth’s support on Capitol Hill has eroded steadily since the Iran war began.

Retiring Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Hegseth doesn’t have “a lot of love” on Capitol Hill and told Axios he is undecided on the vote.

One unnamed GOP lawmaker summed up the mood to Axios: “Iran, Iran, Iran … We should have never done the war before the midterms.”

A Vote Leaders Dodged Before the Election

Massie tried to force the same vote in September, but Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sent the House home a day early and the articles expired, Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram reported.

Johnson condemned Massie’s effort but denied he adjourned early to avoid an impeachment vote. Massie plans to reintroduce the articles, and House rules require the chamber to act on them within two days.

Leaders can still try to table the resolution or send it to committee, but Pergram wrote that a growing number of Republicans have grumbled about Hegseth and a motion to kill it “might not work.”

Attendance could matter too. Members who lost might not show up, Pergram noted, leaving “more Democrats in the House next week than Republicans.” A simple majority is enough to impeach.

Hegseth has refused to back down. In a video posted Thursday, he called the push “sham articles of impeachment” from “a disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies,” NBC News reported.

Massie, who lost his primary after crossing Trump, answered that he would drop the effort in only one case: “Hegseth resigns.” He also warned that Democrats will hold hearings and trials once they take over in January.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told Axios that Hegseth “will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points,” and said he is “100% committed” to serving through the end of Trump’s term.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that Hegseth “has done a fantastic job.” But two people familiar with the discussions told NBC News that Trump has asked allies who might succeed him.

Even if the House impeaches Hegseth, removal would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate. The Senate could also vote by simple majority to dismiss the articles, as it did with former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

The House has impeached only two Cabinet officials in its history, Mayorkas and Secretary of War William Belknap in the 1870s, according to NBC News. No Cabinet member has ever been convicted.

The vote would cap a week of open GOP finger-pointing over the war, which Massie began pressing after the election in a renewed resign-or-impeach push.

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