Kentucky Republican Massie Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against Pentagon Chief Hegseth

A House Republican from Kentucky on Tuesday introduced eight articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth for his role in directing the Iran war, alleging the Pentagon chief has engaged in suppression of free speech, constitutional violations, and unlawful conduct by the military.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a longtime critic of the administration’s handling of the conflict who was unseated by an administration-backed challenger in a May primary, revealed the articles in a surprise speech on the House floor, reading the text of his resolution.

“Secretary Hegseth has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as Secretary of Defense and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States of America,” Massie said.

Congress will likely need to vote on the resolution within a few days, though it’s not likely to go far in the Republican-controlled legislature.

Here’s what the eight articles allege.

War Powers Violations

Under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress is given the authority to declare war. While the scope of executive authority over matters of war was significantly boosted amid the crises of the 20th century, later legislation sought to reel those powers back in.

According to Massie, Hegseth’s conduct in directing the war has run against the standards laid out in the War Powers Act of 1973—which limited presidential authority to wage war without congressional approval.

That legislation imposes two key requirements on the executive branch: Congress must be notified within 48 hours, and any conflict extending beyond 60 days must receive explicit congressional authorization. Exceptions exist, including responding to attacks on the United States or handling an imminent threat.

According to the Kentucky Republican, when Joe Kent resigned as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center in March, he indicated that no such threat existed.

In his resignation statement, Kent wrote: ““I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.”

The first of the three articles introduced by Massie focus on alleged violations of the 1973 legislation.

“Secretary Hegseth knowingly executed and implemented unlawful orders to initiate war against a foreign nation notwithstanding the absence of congressional authorization, an attack upon the United States giving rise to the national emergency contemplated by law, or an imminent threat requiring immediate defensive action,” Massie read on the House floor.

The related eighth article of impeachment extends these concerns to the U.S. conduct of the war in Yemen, which Massie said has resulted in significant civilian casualties.

Massie said that leadership had failed to notify Congress of the hostilities within the 48 hours required by law, instead waiting nearly 11 days to inform Congress.

Disregard for Civilian Lives

Another article accuses Hegseth of ignoring laws designed to reduce civilian casualties.

Massie referenced the U.S. bombing of the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, Iran, an attack that killed 200 civilians, including 120 children. The attack drew international condemnation.

Massie said that Hegseth sought the repeal of civilian infrastructure protections; “eliminated funding for the Army’s casualty-tracking database;” and removed the senior-most judge advocates general of the Army, Navy, and Air Force; among other moves.

“Secretary Hegseth, from the outset of his tenure, instigated a departmental culture hostile to the law of armed conflict and the protection of civilians through his public and repeated denigration of rules of engagement as ‘stupid,’ ‘politically correct,’ and ‘overbearing,’” the resolution reads.

Extrajudicial Killings

In the fifth article, Massie accused Hegseth of directing “extrajudicial killings,” citing the administration’s legally dubious use of the military in 2025 to carry out anti-drug trafficking law enforcement in international waters.

“Using the powers of his office, Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth directed the Department of Defense in a manner that resulted in the extrajudicial killings of at least 221 persons aboard seagoing vessels alleged to be smuggling narcotics in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific Ocean, principally in international waters,” Massie wrote.

The seventh impeachment article condemns Hegseth’s management of the operation that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on drug trafficking charges.

Massie described this controversial operation as “an act of war against a sovereign country executed under the guise of narcotics law enforcement, though in actuality intended to assert U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil reserves.”

Suppression of Free Speech

The sixth article accuses Hegseth of unlawfully attempting to suppress free speech, with a litany of specific examples provided.

First, he referenced efforts to retaliate against sitting U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) for his statement affirming service members’ constitutional right to defy unlawful orders and vowing to protect service members who did so, consistent with U.S. legal standards.

“Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders,” said Kelly, a former Navy pilot and NASA astronaut.

In retaliation for this, according to Massie, Hegseth threatened to recall Kelly to active duty in order to court martial him, directed the secretary of the Navy to review Kelly, and even threatened the senator with “criminal prosecution or further administrative action.”

Had this alleged effort at retaliation succeeded, Massie said, “the speech and congressional oversight activities of nearly twenty percent of the current Congress … as well as the speech of millions of other retired service members,” would have been subjected “to the will and discretion of the Department of Defense, without any immediate avenue of recourse outside the Department to vindicate their constitutional rights.”

The Pentagon did not immediately return a request for comment on the allegations.