The House is expected to take up an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, as Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie calls for lawmakers to hold him accountable for the Trump administration’s military actions.
Video in player above: Defense secretary calls impeachment effort “a political spectacle”
According to House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s schedule, lawmakers will consider a procedural motion related to Massie’s resolution at 5:30 p.m.
Massie said in a social media post that the first vote will determine whether the resolution is sent to committee or otherwise blocked from moving forward.
“If we can overcome that effort, we will proceed to a real debate and vote on the Articles of Impeachment,” Massie wrote.
The vote will come just hours after Hegseth held a rare press conference Tuesday morning, his first in more than 180 days, to address the impeachment effort.
Hegseth called the proposal a political stunt and defended the administration’s military operations in Iran and Yemen and against suspected drug traffickers.
“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt, and everybody knows it,” Hegseth said.
The press conference came after Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth on Monday.
The 34-page resolution accuses the defense secretary of violating the Constitution and federal law. Tap here to read the full resolution.
Hegseth rejected the accusations, arguing military action under the Trump administration has been carried out lawfully.
“In the 250 years of our American republic, no Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations, and in our case, successful ones at that,” he said.
President Donald Trump also weighed in on Truth Social after Hegseth’s remarks.
“Hegseth gets an “A” PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER,” he said.
While speaking with reporters Monday night, Massie argued that Hegseth’s actions warrant impeachment regardless of political disagreements over the administration’s military policies.
“A lot of people are saying, ‘Well, I think Peter Hegseth is effective. He’s good at his job, and so I don’t want to vote for these articles of impeachment.’ Well, the reality is we’re not indicting him for being bad at his job. In fact, he was very effective at killing schoolchildren in Iran. He was very effective at extrajudicial killings. There’s no argument in these impeachment articles that he’s ineffective. The argument here is that he’s broken laws and violated the Constitution.”
The House’s procedural vote will determine whether lawmakers move forward with consideration of the impeachment articles or stop the effort at this stage.
