Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, has filed eight articles of impeachment against US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of waging an illegal war without congressional approval and abusing his powers. Massie is seeking to force a vote on the impeachment, with a vote in the US House of Representatives potentially taking place as early as this week.
The articles of impeachment include the initiation and continuation of an unauthorised war in Iran and the violation of the War Powers Resolution without seeking congressional approval. Some of the articles contain the claim that Hegseth "abused the powers of the Department of Defence". Massie claims this resulted in the death of more than 175 civilians following a strike on a primary school in Minab, Iran, in February.
The Pentagon has not confirmed responsibility for that specific attack, but independent analyses have determined that the US was behind the strike. The Department of Defence conducted its own investigation, and a preliminary inquiry showed that Washington was responsible for the deadly missile strike, according to a report by the New York Times.
Massie is a departing Republican congressman who lost the primary elections earlier this year. He is re-filing his articles of impeachment today and will likely again attempt to force a vote on the impeachment of Hegseth before Democrats retake control of Congress in the new year. Many House members from the Democratic ranks appear united behind the impeachment resolution, and some Republicans are also expressing support for the resolution.
Elections for the leadership of the Republican conference will be held in the House tomorrow. Outgoing Republican Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not run for minority leader, while Steve Scalise, the current majority leader, and hardline congressman Jim Jordan have announced their candidacies for Republican leadership in the next Congress.
Several Republican senators have called on party leadership to postpone the internal elections scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday). The group wrote in a letter to conference chair Senator Tom Cotton: "We must have serious discussions within our conference about what we can do to improve the outcome of 2028." In the letter, they noted the GOP's crushing defeat in last week's midterm elections and stated: "Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust debate and assessment of how leadership candidates intend to lead would be political negligence." They added: "This is certainly not how leadership elections should be conducted in the world's greatest deliberative body." The letter was led by Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. There is no apparent challenger to the Senate majority leader, Senator John Thune; if Thune remains in place, he will lead the Republican minority in the next Congress.
Meanwhile, Democrats have taken control of the Georgia state House of Representatives, the Associated Press reported on Monday. From Monday, Democrats have won 91 seats in the state House, while Republicans have 86, according to the AP. The Georgia state House of Representatives had been under Republican control since 2005.
