Hegseth impeachment: What is he accused of, and could he be removed?

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is facing possible impeachment after Republican Congressman Thomas Massie introduced a resolution to remove him from office.

On Monday, Massie took the floor of the House of Representatives to accuse Hegseth of carrying out unlawful orders and contravening the United States Constitution by waging war against Iran and Venezuela, as well as systematically failing to protect civilians.

He introduced eight articles of impeachment on Monday, starting a two-day countdown that could bring a vote by midweek.

Top Democrats say they will support the resolution, while Hegseth has struck a defiant tone and has the backing of US President Donald Trump.

The US Constitution gives the House of Representatives “the sole Power of Impeachment”, meaning it alone can choose to initiate impeachment proceedings against senior officials, including cabinet members.

Officials can be impeached and removed for “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors”.

If a majority of the House votes to impeach a cabinet member, the Senate then gets to decide by majority whether to acquit or to convict and remove them. Conviction requires a two-thirds majority of Senate votes.

President Trump made history during his first term in office by becoming the only US president to be impeached by a Democrat-held House twice, though he was acquitted by a Republican-held Senate twice.

If impeached, Hegseth would be the second head of the US military to meet that fate since William Belknap, who was impeached for bribery in 1876.

In this case, Hegseth stands accused of “high crimes and misdemeanors” over his handling of the war on Iran and the conflict with Venezuela.

Of the eight articles, four concern Iran and two cover Venezuela and strikes on boats conducted in the Caribbean since 2025. One relates to the 2025 US air campaign in Yemen. The only non-conflict-related article is Hegseth’s treatment of Democratic Senator Mark Kelly.

Kelly, an Arizona Democrat and retired US Navy captain, appeared with five other Democratic lawmakers in a November 2025 video telling US troops: “Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.”

Hegseth accused them of sedition and threatened to prosecute them, while Trump said in a social media post that their conduct was “punishable by DEATH!”

Massie’s articles accuse Hegseth of trying to subject the speech and oversight activities of members of Congress “to the will and discretion” of the Department of Defense.

Massie said that while Trump was culpable for issuing what he described as unlawful orders, like attacking Iran, Hegseth chose to carry them out.

“Hegseth should not carry out illegal orders, and that’s why we’re impeaching him,” Massie said.

Three of the four Iran articles rest on the War Powers Resolution, a 1973 law that limits a president’s power to wage war without the approval of Congress.

The articles accuse Hegseth of fostering a culture “hostile to the law of armed conflict and the protection of civilians”. They cite his declaration in September 2025, as he rebranded the Department of Defense as the Department of War: “Maximum lethality, not tepid legality. Violent effect, not politically correct.”

At a media briefing on Monday, Massie dismissed a claim that the Minab school strike was a mistake caused by the fog of war, saying the US had months to prepare its unilateral attack on Iran.

“There’s no fog of war on the first day,” he said.

In January, US special forces abducted former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in a raid on Caracas, after months of US strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

Massie dismissed the administration’s description of the raid on Maduro as a law enforcement operation.

“It was to kidnap a foreign leader so we could take their oil,” he said.

Regarding the US bombing campaign against Yemen’s Houthi group in 2025, Hegseth is accused of:

The article cites a leaked Signal chat between Hegseth and other senior Trump administration officials involved in the planning and execution of the Yemen attack.

Massie said everyone in the chat agreed there was no imminent threat that would justify bypassing Congress. “The consequence of that was civilians killed,” he said.

Hegseth held a press conference on Tuesday where he struck a defiant tone.

“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt,” he said, referring to the impeachment motion. “And everybody knows it.”

Arguing that the conflicts he oversaw were “lawful military operations”, he castigated Massie for trying to impeach him for what he called “policy disagreements”.

“The proper remedy for a policy disagreement is legislation,” he said. “It’s debate. It’s the next presidential election. It’s not handing the House and Senate floor to Democrats so they can run a show trial against the president and Secretary of War.”

He defended his track record and the US campaigns in Iran and Latin America while warning that punishing him would be the first step in prosecuting soldiers for “doing their job”.

“If they want to come after the warriors, they’re going to have to come through me,” he said.

He compared his situation to Trump’s two impeachments and acquittals during his first term, saying that the president had “come back stronger”.

Trump, for his part, has said that he would stand by Hegseth even if he is impeached, calling Massie a “stone-cold loser”.

Republicans control the House until January 3, when Democrats take over. If most Democrats follow their House leader, Hakeem Jeffries, who says he is a “hard yes”, Massie would only need a handful of Republicans to support the resolution.

Conviction is another story. Even if the House chooses to impeach, Republicans currently hold 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats, and Democrats, expected to have about 54 next year, would still fall far short of the 67 supermajority of votes needed to oust Hegseth from office.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, expected to become Senate majority leader once the new Congress is seated, has said that Hegseth “must stand trial before the Senate”.

Massie, meanwhile, has urged Trump to act first.

“President Trump should replace Secretary Hegseth now while he can still get a replacement confirmed in the Senate,” he said.