Politics
Massie and Allies Introduce Eight Impeachment Articles Against Defense Secretary Hegseth
Representative Thomas Massie, with support from lawmakers such as Representative Ro Khanna, introduced eight Articles of impeachment against U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The articles allege violations of the 1973 War Powers Resolution, misconduct involving civilian casualties, and operations in Yemen and Venezuela. Hegseth, a former Fox News weekend host and one of President Donald Trump’s handpicked appointees during Trump’s second term, assumed leadership of the Department of Defense despite limited administrative experience. Trump has maintained support for Hegseth and has repeatedly dismissed calls for his dismissal.
The eight Articles are: 1. **Waging War in Contravention of the War Powers Resolution (Section 2(c))** – Charges Hegseth with executing unlawful military orders by launching hostilities against Iran on February 28, 2026, violating Section 2(c) because Congress had not declared war, provided statutory authorization, or faced a national emergency. 2. **Waging War in Contravention of the War Powers Resolution (Section 5(c))** – Accuses Hegseth of refusing to comply with Congress’s directive to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran after House Concurrent Resolution 86 passed in June 2026, and of directing the Department to ignore the resolution. 3. **Waging War in Contravention of the War Powers Resolution (Section 5(b))** – Allegedly continued hostile operations in Iran beyond the statutory 60‑day deadline of May 1 and June 1, 2026, without congressional extensions. 4. **Ignoring Laws That Minimise Civilian Casualties** – Accuses Hegseth of cultivating a warmaking culture and removing infrastructure mandated by law to limit collateral damage, citing the February 28, 2026 cruise‑missile strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Iran that killed and wounded over 200 civilians. 5. **Extrajudicial Killings** – Targets a strike campaign against suspected narcotics smuggling vessels in international waters that resulted in at least 221 deaths across 63 attack events, alleging the use of lethal force instead of standard maritime law‑enforcement practices. 6. **Suppressing Free Speech** – Accuses Hegseth of retaliating against Senator Mark Kelly, a retired Navy captain and NASA astronaut, after Kelly publicly reminded service members of their right to refuse illegal orders, including issuing a Secretarial Letter of Censure and threatening court‑martial recall. 7. **Kidnapping of a Sovereign Foreign Leader** – Charges Hegseth with initiating an unconstitutional act of war on January 3, 2026, in Caracas, Venezuela, involving the forcible capture of former President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, framed as narcotics enforcement but allegedly aimed at seizing foreign oil reserves. 8. **Unlawful War in Yemen** – Focuses on ‘Operation Rough Rider,’ a 52‑day campaign in Yemen with 1,100 strikes that caused roughly 224 civilian deaths, alleging that Hegseth initiated and directed the operation without Congressional authority and acknowledged no imminent threat.
The resolution was published on November 10, 2026 at 02:03 pm IST.