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Thomas Massie Hid Hegseth Impeachment Resolution From GOP Leaders as House Vote Gets Delayed
The confrontation took a dramatic turn Wednesday when Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the House would leave Washington earlier than scheduled for its extended pre-midterm recess.
Rep. Thomas Massie says he deliberately kept his impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth secret from Republican leaders – and then the House abruptly left Washington before a vote could happen.
A dramatic showdown over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has erupted inside the Republican Party after Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie revealed that he deliberately concealed his impeachment resolution from GOP leadership.
Thomas Massie said he didn’t want House Republican leaders to know about the measure because he feared they could prevent him from getting it on the House floor.
“I didn’t want to show it to anybody,” Massie said during an appearance on CNN’s The Source. He said he was concerned leaders would try to “subvert” his effort to secure time on the floor to read the articles of impeachment.
Thomas Massie introduced the privileged resolution on September 15, triggering a procedural timetable for House action.
Massie Takes Aim at Hegseth Over Iran War
The Republican lawmaker’s resolution targets Pete Hegseth over the Trump administration’s military operations in Iran.
Massie alleges that Hegseth violated the War Powers Resolution by continuing hostilities without congressional authorization. His resolution also accuses the defense secretary of abusing his office and failing to comply with congressional restrictions.
Those are Massie’s allegations, not findings that Hegseth has been impeached or found guilty of misconduct.
Massie has repeatedly criticized the administration’s military actions and previously backed efforts to use congressional war-powers authority to restrict the conflict.
In his September 15 announcement, he said he was seeking Hegseth’s impeachment over what he described as violations of three provisions of the 1973 War Powers Resolution.
Today in the House, I introduced Articles of Impeachment against @SecWar Hegseth.
The Articles outline how, among other things, Sec. Hegseth is abusing the powers of the DOD, operating without constitutional authority, and gambling with the lives of U.S. servicemen and women. pic.twitter.com/v6XxXouMS6
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) September 16, 2026
House Leaves Washington Before the Vote
The confrontation took a dramatic turn Wednesday when Speaker Mike Johnson announced that the House would leave Washington earlier than scheduled for its extended pre-midterm recess.
The House had been expected to remain in session through Thursday. Instead, lawmakers finished their scheduled work Wednesday and departed, pushing consideration of Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution until after the November elections.
Mike Johnson denied that the early adjournment was designed to protect Republicans from a difficult vote on Hegseth.
He nevertheless sharply criticized Massie’s impeachment push, calling it a “stunt” and saying the resolution would be tabled when lawmakers return.
Massie, meanwhile, accused House leadership of using the calendar to avoid contentious issues.
Hegseth Gets Strong Defense From Trump Officials
The Trump administration has rejected Massie’s allegations.
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended Pete Hegseth during a White House briefing, saying the defense secretary follows the law and that the Justice Department plays an active role in ensuring legal compliance.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson also defended Hegseth, describing him as a “transformative leader” and saying the department remains unified behind his leadership.
The competing claims set up a sharp congressional dispute over the limits of executive military power and Congress’s constitutional authority over war.
Massie’s Resolution Goes Beyond Iran
The 34-page impeachment resolution does not focus exclusively on Iran.
Thomas Massie also raises other actions by the Defense Department, including what he describes as the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and military operations involving suspected drug-trafficking vessels.
He argues that Pete Hegseth’s actions demonstrate an ongoing threat to constitutional limits on executive power.
The administration disputes that characterization.
A Republican Rift With Bigger Political Stakes
The fight is particularly striking because Massie is a Republican taking direct aim at a Cabinet secretary serving under Donald Trump.
Thomas Massie has also become a prominent critic of the administration’s Iran policy. His political relationship with Trump has deteriorated sharply, and Massie lost his Republican primary reelection bid to Trump-backed candidate Ed Gallrein earlier this year.
Pete Hegseth had campaigned for Gallrein ahead of the primary.
For now, however, Massie’s impeachment resolution faces a delay rather than an immediate House vote. Lawmakers are not expected to return to Washington until after the November midterm elections.
That leaves the Pete Hegseth impeachment fight hanging over Congress and guarantees that the battle over presidential war powers, congressional oversight, and the administration’s Iran strategy will remain a major political flashpoint when lawmakers return.
