The House could impeach Hegseth this week. Here's how the vote works and why Republicans may let it pass

The Republican-controlled House may impeach a Republican defense secretary this week, nearly two months before Democrats even take over.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who lost his primary in May and leaves Congress in January, says he will force a floor vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war. House Republican leaders are bracing for enough defections in their own ranks for it to pass, Axios reported, according to IBTimes.

What Massie is doing

Massie’s resolution contains eight articles of impeachment. The first three accuse Hegseth of waging the war in Iran in violation of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, ABC News reported. The others make further allegations about his conduct.

Massie told ABC News he would reintroduce the measure as a privileged resolution as early as Monday. Under House rules, a privileged resolution must be taken up within two legislative days, which is how a single member can force leadership’s hand.

He tried this once before. Massie filed the articles in mid-September, and Speaker Mike Johnson called an early recess before the vote could happen, The New Republic reported. Johnson has denied the recess was about the impeachment vote.

Massie has said there is one way to stop him. “There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns,” he wrote on X.

Who is Thomas Massie?

Massie, a libertarian-leaning Kentucky Republican first elected in 2012, has been one of Trump’s most persistent critics inside the party. He lost his Republican primary in May and has nothing left to lose politically. He has opposed the Iran war from the start: in February, before the first strikes, he co-sponsored the bipartisan Khanna-Massie war powers resolution that would have required the president to get approval from Congress before using force against Iran, according to a statement from House Democratic leaders.

Why it could pass a Republican House

The House still has a narrow Republican majority until Jan. 3. That means a handful of GOP votes, combined with a united Democratic caucus, would be enough.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries removed any doubt about his side on Sunday. He told ABC’s “This Week” that he was a hard yes, accusing Hegseth of abusing his power and engineering a reckless and costly war, and said Democrats would discuss the vote when they meet Tuesday morning. He predicted incredibly strong support.

On the Republican side, the mood has turned since the election. Several GOP sources expect the resolution to pass, CNN reported, according to Yahoo News’ live coverage. Many Republicans blame Hegseth and the war for last week’s losses, including in places like South Carolina, where a retired Navy admiral whom Hegseth fired as chief of the Navy Reserve flipped Rep. Nancy Mace’s seat for the Democrats.

How the vote is likely to unfold

Notice. Massie formally offers the privileged resolution on the floor.
Two legislative days. Leadership must bring it up within that window.
Motion to table. Leaders opposed to impeachment often try to kill a privileged resolution first with a motion to table, which needs a simple majority. Watch this vote closely; it is often the real test.
Vote on the articles. If tabling fails, the House votes on impeachment. A simple majority of members voting impeaches.
Managers and the Senate. If impeached, the House sends the articles to the Senate, which must hold a trial.

The House’s own guide to the legislative process explains how floor votes work; the procedural details for privileged matters are set in the chamber’s rules.

Impeachment is not removal

Even if the House acts, Hegseth would not lose his job automatically. Conviction and removal require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, as the U.S. Senate explains. Republicans control the Senate until January and would have no obvious reason to schedule a speedy trial.

Massie has acknowledged as much and framed his resolution as a warning shot. His measure, he wrote, is a gentler version of what is coming when Democrats control Congress and can hold hearings and trials.

Only two Cabinet secretaries have ever been impeached. Secretary of War William Belknap was impeached in 1876, after he had already resigned, and the Senate acquitted him. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was impeached in 2024, and the Senate dismissed the articles without a full trial.

What Trump and Hegseth are saying

President Donald Trump has stood by his defense secretary. Asked about Hegseth on Sunday, Trump said he was guilty of only two things, winning two wars, a reference to Iran and the operation in Venezuela, CNN reported.

Hegseth went on offense last week. In a video recorded on the steps of the Pentagon two days after the election, he defended the Iran war, listed policies he had ended and called on lawmakers to pass a $1.5 trillion defense budget. “They attack me, they attack us, because we are effective,” he said, according to Federal News Network.

What else is on the House’s plate

The vote lands in a crowded lame-duck session. Congress also faces a government funding deadline, and Johnson had planned to advance only one major piece of legislation, frustrating some members of his own conference, ABC News reported.

What to watch this week

When Massie formally offers the resolution, starting the two-day clock.
Whether leadership tries to table it, and how many Republicans vote against tabling.
The Democratic caucus meeting Tuesday morning.
Whether Hegseth resigns first, which Massie says would end his effort.