Massie Moves to Impeach Hegseth, Citing ‘Illegal’ Military Operations

Virginia Grace McKinnon

•   September 15, 2026

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is working to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for “high crimes and misdemeanors.” The Republican congressman brought the charges to the House floor on Tuesday and is attempting to force a vote in the next two days.

“By engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorization, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable,” Massie said. “Secretary Hegseth’s constitutional violations extend beyond the illegal war in Iran.”

The congressman is set to leave his position in January after he lost his May primary. Massie cited eight charges in the privileged impeachment resolution that will force a vote in the House in the next two days.

The charges include waging war in contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973. The resolution specifically cites “waging the Iran war despite no declaration of war, statutory authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat”; ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties; and extrajudicial killings, for which Massie cites “unauthorized lethal military targeting of suspected drug traffickers, resulting in at least 221 deaths.”

Article 6 claims that Hegseth suppressed the free speech of Sen. Mark Kelly and intimidated him for questioning Hegseth’s military orders. Article 7 charges Hegseth with kidnapping a sovereign foreign leader for seizing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro “without legal authority.”

Lastly, Article 8 charges Hegseth with an unlawful war in Yemen, referring to the 52-day military operation in March 2025.

“He is abusing the power of his office to ignore congressional war powers resolutions, to kidnap foreign leaders, and to intimidate critics of the Trump administration by retaliating against them for exercising free speech,” Massie continued, referring to Hegseth.

“If we are to remain true to our oath to ‘support and defend the Constitution of the United States,’ Congress must not turn a blind eye to Secretary Hegseth’s unconstitutional and illegal actions.”

Leadership has already pushed this afternoon’s scheduled vote until 4 p.m. and will likely move to table the resolution. A motion to table and a vote to impeach both require a simple majority.

Virginia Grace McKinnon
Virginia Grace McKinnon | Journalism Fellow
Virginia Grace McKinnon is a journalism fellow for the Daily Signal.

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