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U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday dismissed an effort by Rep. Thomas Massie to impeach him as a “political spectacle.” The House could vote on the eight articles of impeachment as soon as Tuesday evening.
“It’s a farce and it’s a stunt and everybody knows it,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon news conference that lasted less than 30 minutes.
He said the effort sends a dangerous message to America’s enemies and called it “not patriotism” but “sabotage.”
Massie, a Kentucky Republican, reintroduced the articles Monday, citing the war with Iran and other military actions ordered by President Donald Trump.
Trump weighed in on social media soon after Hegseth finished. He wrote that the defense secretary “gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS” for his defense against what he called a “disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman,” and described Massie as a “TOTAL LOSER.”
Hegseth compared the effort to the two failed impeachment trials Trump faced in his first term, the first over a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the second over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Both times they failed, both times he came back stronger, and the American people sent him back to the White House,” he said. “Now they’re trying a third time, this time against a member of his Cabinet.”
He said every operation named in the articles was lawful.
“Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen, every one was a lawful operation ordered by the commander in chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress and executed by American warriors, who did their jobs,” he said.
Such operations, he added, “are not high crimes. This is the job, and it’s the job well done.”
He listed the war with Iran, operations in Latin America against alleged drug boats and the military’s secret effort to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro among his accomplishments. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, face charges in the United States that they have denied.
Hegseth said strikes on more than 70 alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed more than 218 “narco-terrorists,” and that maritime drug smuggling is down by at least 65%.
Human rights specialists say the strikes are illegal attacks on civilians, and epidemiologists say the strikes have not slowed cocaine traffic into the United States.
He also defended his relationship with Congress, saying critics misunderstand “the depth of partnership and work that we have done with House Republicans and Senate Republicans.”
Lawmakers from both parties have voiced frustration over the amount and quality of information he has provided about the cost of the Iran conflict.
NBC News has reported that the cost could reach $100 billion. The Pentagon is still seeking a budget that Congress has not approved, and Hegseth said the lame-duck period is “critically important for funding of our department.”
Massie, who is retiring from Congress at the end of the year, filed eight charges. He accuses Hegseth of “waging the Iran war despite no declaration of war, statutory authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat.”
Three articles focus on the Iran war, which began Feb. 28 when U.S. forces launched joint strikes with Israel against Iran.
They draw on the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which limits a president’s ability to start or escalate military action abroad without congressional consent. The first says the war never met the law’s conditions.
The second says Hegseth defied concurrent resolutions that directed U.S. forces to withdraw, which the House approved June 3 and the Senate June 23. The third says the administration ignored the law’s 60-day limit on unauthorized hostilities.
In May, around the 60-day mark, the administration declared the original mission, Operation Epic Fury, “concluded” amid a cease-fire and treated later attacks as a separate operation.
Legal questions surround the second charge. A 1983 Supreme Court ruling, I.N.S. v. Chadha, cast doubt on congressional measures that try to bind the executive branch without presenting legislation to the president.
Concurrent resolutions do not go to the president. The administration maintains that Trump has constitutional authority as commander in chief to conduct the campaign without congressional action.
The other five articles address Hegseth’s oversight of the Pentagon and other operations:
Civilian protections: One accuses him of dismantling safeguards against civilian harm, including cutting funding for an Army casualty-tracking database, eliminating most of the staff overseeing harm mitigation and firing military lawyers. The article ties those moves to the bombing of an elementary school in Minab, Iran, on the war’s first day. Iranian officials say at least 175 people died, most of them children.
Drug boat strikes: Another says the strikes that began in September 2025 amount to extrajudicial killings of at least 221 people in more than 60 attacks. It singles out a Sept. 2 “double tap” strike that killed two survivors clinging to wreckage.
Sen. Mark Kelly: A sixth accuses him of retaliating against the Arizona Democrat over a November 2025 video telling troops they could refuse illegal orders. Hegseth censured Kelly and began a disciplinary process that could reduce his retired rank and pension. A federal judge blocked the punishment, and the Justice Department has appealed.
Maduro raid: A seventh challenges the Jan. 3 operation that captured Maduro, which involved more than 150 aircraft and drones. The administration calls it a law enforcement action, while the article calls it an “act of war against a sovereign country.”
Massie said on Monday that the case is not about performance. “We’re not indicting him for being bad at his jobs,” he said. “The argument here is that he has broken laws and he’s violated the Constitution.”
Because Massie filed the measure as privileged under House rules, Republican leaders must bring it to a floor vote within two legislative days.
A simple majority is needed to approve the articles. Republicans could also move to kill the resolution, which would take a majority vote.
If the House impeaches Hegseth, the Senate would then decide whether to convict and remove him, which requires a two-thirds vote.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said on his podcast Monday that Hegseth faces two likely outcomes.
“Either Hegseth is going to step down, either he will resign voluntarily or Trump will fire him,” Cruz said. “Or if that does not happen, I think it is extremely likely, if not certain, that the House will impeach him.”
Several Republicans have publicly supported the idea of Trump firing Hegseth, but none has openly committed to voting for impeachment.
The Pentagon has said Hegseth “will not back down or be deterred.” Trump said Sunday that Hegseth is “guilty of two things, basically winning two wars.”
Rep.-elect Nancy Lacore, a Democrat and former Navy admiral who flipped a South Carolina seat in last week’s election, backs the effort.
Hegseth removed her as chief of the Navy reserve last year. She takes office in January.
“Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified secretary that this nation has seen,” she said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” Asked which charges warranted impeachment, she said, “There’s probably plenty.”
Massie, 55, is a seven-term libertarian-leaning Republican and a longtime Trump critic. He lost a May primary by about 10 percentage points to Ed Gallrein, a farmer Trump backed.
He has since filed a statement of candidacy that lets him raise money for a possible 2028 run, according to Federal Election Commission records.
He has criticized the Iran war since its first hours and sponsored an unsuccessful measure in early March to force the president to seek congressional authorization.
Trump had described the Iran conflict as a “minor incursion” that would last four to six weeks. It is now in its ninth month, and U.S. munitions are depleted.
Republicans suffered heavy losses in the midterm elections amid high gas prices, inflation and opposition to the war.
NBC News reported that the United States recently moved several military aircraft from RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom amid threats from Iran, and a U.S. official confirmed the move, saying security at the base had been increased.
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