Massie files eight impeachment articles against Hegseth over Iran war

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on September 15, the first such effort against a sitting Pentagon chief brought by a member of the president’s own party, according to CBS News.

The 34-page resolution accuses Hegseth of directing military action against Iran without congressional authorization, then continuing hostilities after lawmakers voted to end them. The war began in late February, and Congress passed a War Powers Resolution directing the removal of troops from the conflict; the resolution alleges Hegseth ignored that directive, according to Common Dreams‘ reporting on the filing.

One article centers on a February 28 strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, in Iran’s Hormozgan province. Amnesty International found the strike killed 156 people, including 120 children, 26 teachers and four parents, and concluded the United States violated international humanitarian law by relying on outdated intelligence that did not reflect the school’s civilian status since at least 2016. “This harrowing attack on a school, with classrooms full of children, is a sickening illustration of the catastrophic and entirely predictable price civilians are paying during this armed conflict,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty’s senior director of research, advocacy, policy and campaigns. Massie’s resolution cites the strike as evidence Hegseth ignored rules meant to minimize civilian casualties.

A separate article addresses military strikes on boats in the Caribbean suspected of carrying drug traffickers, which the resolution characterizes as extrajudicial killings rather than lawful law enforcement action. Massie’s filing says the strikes have killed more than 220 people, according to the Washington Examiner.

Other articles accuse Hegseth of retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a former Navy pilot, after Kelly told service members in a video that they have a legal right to refuse illegal orders; Hegseth said afterward that troops who make that video “should be held accountable.” A further article addresses the January capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from Caracas, which the resolution calls an unauthorized kidnapping of a foreign leader carried out without constitutional authority, under a mission Hegseth’s own department named Operation Absolute Resolve. The final article covers Operation Rough Rider, military operations against Houthi forces in Yemen that the resolution says began without congressional authorization, per Fox News‘ account of the filing.

Massie’s resolution states that “by directing the Department of Defense in a manner that foreseeably dismantled the safeguards necessary to distinguish civilian objects from military objectives, Secretary Hegseth thereby effected the murder of civilians,” and separately calls the administration’s claimed authority to carry out the boat strikes “foreign to the rule of law, repugnant to the legal traditions and fundamental values of the United States,” according to Common Dreams.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson responded by calling Hegseth a “transformative leader” who has “slashed bureaucracy, unleashed innovation, and delivered for our warfighters every step of the way,” CBS News reported. No vote on the articles has been scheduled in the Republican-controlled House.

Massie made the resolution privileged, a procedural move that gives the House two legislative days to act on it, but GOP leadership is expected to move to table the measure before it reaches a floor vote, MSNBC reported. Massie said he did not alert party leadership before filing, out of concern they would cancel House session days to avoid a floor fight.

Massie lost his May primary to Trump-endorsed challenger Ed Gallrein after Hegseth himself campaigned for Gallrein the day before the vote. The impeachment filing follows an earlier discharge petition Massie led to force a floor vote on releasing files related to Jeffrey Epstein, another instance of Massie bypassing his own party’s leadership to bring a measure to the floor.