Massie moves to impeach Hegseth over Iran war
By: Zachary Schermele
and Miles J. Herszenborn
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Republicans in the House of Representative abruptly canceled the chamber's last day of work before a roughly eight-week recess, punting a sensitive vote on impeaching Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth until after the midterm election.
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Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican and outspoken foe of President Donald Trump introduced the articles on September 15, [2026] to the surprise of GOP leaders.
..... Speaker Mike Johnson said September 16 [2026] that the decision to leave early was unrelated to the push to remove Hegseth. Rather , he said, it was "time for our members to go home to their districts and make the case to the American people" ahead of the elections. he derided Massie's long-shot impeachment resolution, which due to special procedural rules has a privileged voting timeline, as a "publicity stunt."
..... That wasn't the only controversy facing the chamber. Three more Republicans Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Representatives Zach Nunn and Marjannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa - flipped fro the first time to vote to end the Iran war. With seven supporting that symbolic measure, the House rebuked Trump for the third time over the conflict.
..... Massie, a coauthor of the Epstein Files Transparency act, also has been collecting signatures, to the chagrin of top Republicans, to force another vote on the Epstein files. The Epstein Files Transparency Act II would give victims of the late convicted sex trafficker standing in court to sue the Justice Department for allegedly not fully employing with Congress' 2025 law to publicly release an accounting of all its Epstein-related documents and investigations.
..... democrats criticized the GOP's scheduling decision.
..... "They are afraid that the House of Representatives will vote to impeach Pet Hegseth," said Representative Melanie Stansbiry, D-New Mexico. "So instead, they're just going to send us home."
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Massie accused Hegseth of betraying his oath of office, abusing his power and violating the Constitution by continuing to oversee military operations in the Iran was without congressional approval, which "frustrated Congress' ability to exercise tis most solemn constitutional responsibility," he said.
..... The representative took particular issue with a February 28 [2026] U.S. strike on an Iranian primary school hat killed more than 100 children. The strike "exposed systemic failures in the Department of Defense targeting process," Massie said.
.... In a statement, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson called Hegseth a "transformation leader."
..... "Standards and merit are back, our arsenal is stronger than ever before, and morale and recruitment across every service are at all-time highs," Wilson said. "By every measurable metric, the Department of War is better under President Trump and Secretary Hegeth's leadership than before. The entire Department is unified behind the Secretary's vision.
..... Massie lost his primary bide for election to Ed Gallrein, a candidate backed by Trump and Hegseth.