Massie Introduces Hegseth Impeachment Resolution, House Adjourns Early

Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduced a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday over his handling of the conflict in Iran. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson announced that the 7-week campaign recess will begin Wednesday, rather than the originally planned date on Thursday, delaying a vote on the impeachment until after midterm elections.

Massie's Plans to Impeach Hegseth: The Hill (Center bias) reported that Massie "hid" his Hegseth impeachment resolution from Republican leaders out of fear of subversion. Massie said, "I didn't want to show it to anybody. I was afraid that they would do something to subvert me getting on the floor for an hour and 20 minutes and reading these articles." The Hill noted that "it is unclear whether any other Republicans will join him in the effort to impeach Hegseth" and cited a variety of officials who have defended Hegseth, including Attorney General Todd Blanche and Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson. Wilson said, "By every measurable metric, the Department of War is better under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth's leadership than before."

House to Adjourn Early: CNN (Lean Left) wrote that the House's early adjournment will "stave off" a vote on impeaching Hegseth. CNN claimed that Republican lawmakers were already "in a dour mood" over contentious political issues such as tariffs and artificial intelligence before the "new headache" of Massie's resolution. The outlet alleged that Republicans found a way to "stall that vote" despite Johnson's claim that the recess had nothing to do with Hegseth. New York Post (Lean Right) similarly reported that "early exit allows GOP leadership to avoid a politically dicey vote" on impeaching Hegseth.

Responses from Lawmakers: Johnson said of Massie's resolution, "It is a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention. It will immediately be tabled, of course. But we probably won't do that today, we will do it when we come back. We should not be playing games with national security." The Post quoted Massie's X post about the recess, where he wrote, "And there it is. Just as I predicted. They're canceling Congress tomorrow to avoid the vote on IMPEACHING [Hegseth]. It will also make it harder for us to reach 218 signatures on the Epstein Discharge Petition before the election. We were at 190+ signatures last night."

Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.