US lawmakers are set to vote this week on a resolution to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, after Republican Congressman Thomas Massie used a procedural move to bring the measure directly before the House of Representatives.
The vote will test whether Republican losses in last week’s midterm elections have weakened party discipline. Democrats hold 214 seats, meaning Massie needs at least three Republicans to join them for the resolution to pass.
Massie, an outgoing Kentucky Republican, has accused Hegseth of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” by continuing military action in Iran without Congress formally declaring a conflict.
He has said he will withdraw the impeachment effort only if Hegseth resigns. The resolution is being advanced as a privileged measure, allowing it to bypass the usual committee process.
Republicans face pressure over Pete Hegseth impeachment vote
Hegseth has dismissed the move as a political attack, describing Massie as “a disgruntled, defeated congressman” and accusing him of filing “sham articles of impeachment”.
But signs have emerged that support for the Pentagon chief may be weakening beyond Massie. James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee and is a close ally of President Donald Trump, said the votes for impeachment could be present in the House this week, although he did not say how he would vote.
“We really didn’t know how to message what the exit strategy was, because I don’t think anybody in Congress knows what the exit strategy is,” Comer told Newsmax.
Arkansas Republican French Hill, who represents a deeply conservative district but won his seat by 4,405 votes last week, said he wanted to hear the case before deciding whether impeachment was warranted.
“I want to hear the debate on it to see if it merits impeachment versus some other disciplinary action or action by the president if he’s not getting the job done in leading the Department of War. That’s the issue,” Hill told CBS News.
He added: “If he’s not conducting his mission in the right way, then the president ought to make a change there.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has declared his support for the resolution. “I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,” he told ABC News.
Jeffries accused the defence secretary of abusing his power, undermining national security and engineering “this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran”. He said: “Pete Hegseth has got to go.”
A simple majority is required for the House to approve an impeachment resolution. Any conviction in a subsequent Senate trial would require a two-thirds majority.
Trump has continued to back Hegseth, saying in a CBS News interview broadcast on Sunday that he had confidence in his defence secretary.
