Key facts
- The resolution carried eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, according to NBC News.
- Massie alleged Hegseth attacked Iran without congressional permission and ignored a June war powers resolution.
- The articles cite a US strike on a school in Minab, Iran, that killed more than 168 people.
- Massie alleged extrajudicial killings of at least 221 people on boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
- Hegseth said at the Pentagon that the military actions cited were lawful.
Republicans in the US House of Representatives voted 211 to 204 on November 10, 2026, to refer an impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the House Judiciary Committee, effectively stopping the effort. Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, sponsored the resolution and was the only Republican to vote against the motion to refer.
According to NBC News, the resolution contained eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth over how he has carried out the war in Iran and other military hostilities in Yemen, Venezuela and the Caribbean. The articles allege Hegseth attacked Iran without first seeking Congress's permission and ignored a war powers resolution the House and Senate approved in June that would require an end to the conflict.
The resolution also accused Hegseth of ignoring laws meant to minimize civilian casualties and cites a US strike on a school in Minab, Iran, that killed more than 168 people. Other articles allege extrajudicial killings of at least 221 people on boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, and retaliation against Democratic senator Mark Kelly for his criticism of the secretary.
The final two articles target Hegseth's involvement in the military operation that captured Venezuela's then president, Nicolás Maduro, and a bombing campaign in Yemen that began shortly after Trump returned to the White House. Hegseth held a morning news conference at the Pentagon, where he called the impeachment a political spectacle and said the military actions cited by Massie were lawful.
Warren Davidson, a House Republican who voted for war powers resolutions, said in an interview that he rejected impeaching Hegseth, calling it an effort to blame-shift Congress's failure and Trump's decision. Had the resolution passed, it would have needed Senate approval, where Republicans hold a 53-seat margin; it is unclear whether it would have had the votes or whether Republican leader John Thune would have brought it up.