Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky launches bid to impeach Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth
[November 10, 2026]
By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and STEVEN SLOAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Thomas Massie moved Monday to force a vote to
impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, pressing his fellow Republicans
to remove one of the Trump administration's most prominent figures
following sweeping election losses blamed in part on fallout from the
war in Iran.
Massie, a Kentucky Republican, read the impeachment resolution from the
House floor just hours after it opened for the first day of sessions
after the midterms. It largely focuses on the war in Iran but also
includes references to Hegseth’s role in carrying out military actions
in Yemen and Venezuela.
The congressman, who was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in a
primary earlier this year, said Hegseth's actions amounted to “high
crimes and misdemeanors.”
Hegseth, he said, “knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders”
and “remains a threat to the Constitution.”
President Donald Trump lashed out at Massie personally just hours after
the congressman read the resolution, calling him a “loser” who “has a
lot of hatred in his heart.”
A vote in the House could come by mid-week, but next steps are highly
uncertain. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries supports the measure.
If most Democrats follow him, Massie would only need support from a few
Republicans to impeach Hegseth.
If the House votes to impeach, it would fall to to the Senate to either
dismiss the charges or hold a trial. Republicans remain in the majority
in both chambers, until the new Congress convenes in January with
Democrats in control.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, endorsed the impeachment
push. "Hegseth must stand trial before the Senate," he said.
Republican leaders, who are eager to use their final weeks in power
executing their own agenda, expressed frustration at the move. House
Speaker Mike Johnson, who has tried to prevent the vote, said
impeachment “in the middle of hostilities abroad would be a terrible,
terrible look, a terrible thing for our allies and our enemies to see
that.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he wasn’t sure why the vote was
being held now.
“We’ll see what their ultimate decision is over there,” he said of the
House. “We’ll have to deal with it accordingly here."
Hegseth issues his own defense and prepares for a fight
Hegseth is stepping up his public statements ahead of the vote, telling
reporters that he's eager to defend the military actions that he and
Trump have taken against Iran, Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and
Venezuela's previous leaders.
After giving a speech at the Naval War College in Rhode Island, he
brushed aside the impeachment push.
“There’s a lot of politically motivated people who may have substantial
policy disagreements, but their disagreements are with success,” he told
reporters. He added that “if we want to litigate” the military actions
that the Trump administration has taken, “I’m happy to do it all day
long.”
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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth leaves after attending the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Defense Ministers' Meeting
in Cebu, central Philippines, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, (AP
Photo/Aaron Favila, Pool)
Asked about Vice President JD Vance blaming the Iran war for the
massive GOP losses in the election, Hegseth noted that Trump said he
would do it again, and “I agree.”
Hegseth also announced that he would hold a rare news conference on
Tuesday — his first in over 180 days — on the impeachment threat.
Hegseth argued that the war was necessary because “someone had to
confront the Iranian regime’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon” and said
“the choice was don’t act and wish it away or take a bold move."
Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran has 440.9
kilograms (972 pounds) of uranium that is enriched up to 60% purity,
a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%.
Trump defended Hegseth to reporters on Monday, commending him for
having “won the war” in Venezuela and “winning the war” in Iran,
which continues to drag on.
Pentagon chief insists ‘Iran is devastated’
Hegseth reiterated that “Iran is devastated,” even though the
Islamic Republic has been able to keep striking military bases in
the Middle East that are used by the United States, causing billions
of dollars in damage, as well as commercial ships in the Strait of
Hormuz. Disruptions to shipping in the waterway, where one-fifth of
the world's oil passed before the war, have led to higher energy
prices that hit voters' pocketbooks.
Hegseth's defense of the war comes after about 6 in 10 voters said
the U.S. made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against
Iran, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000
voters in the United States.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended his fellow Cabinet
secretary, saying that he believes Hegesth has been doing “a great
job” and that its unfair that a Republican is pushing the
impeachment effort.
“I work with him. And so I see perhaps a side of him that the media
doesn’t see and members of Congress may not see,” Rubio told
reporters at the Group of Seven industrialized democracies gathering
in Paris. “But I think Pete works really hard. He’s incredibly
smart.”
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Lisa Mascaro, Joey
Cappelletti and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
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