Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, who was defeated this year in a contentious primary by a Trump-backed challenger, has now set his sights on Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
During remarks on the House floor Tuesday afternoon, Massie accused Hegseth of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” by continuing US military operations in Iran without Congress formally declaring a conflict in the region.
Massie introduced a privileged resolution, a procedural tool that bypasses the usual committee process and compels the House to hold a vote on the issue.
The Kentucky lawmaker employed the same tactic last year to force a vote on releasing the Epstein Files, resisting calls from Republican leadership to abandon his push for greater transparency.
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson defended Hegseth in a statement to the Daily Mail, saying: “Secretary Hegseth has been a transformative leader for the Department of War. Standards and merit are back, our arsenal is stronger than ever before, and morale and recruitment across every service are at all-time highs.”
“Secretary Hegseth has slashed bureaucracy, unleashed innovation, and delivered for our warfighters every step of the way. By every measurable metric, the Department of War is better under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s leadership than before. The entire Department is unified behind the Secretary’s vision and will continue working to put our warfighters and America first,” Wilson added.
The clash follows Hegseth’s intervention in Kentucky’s primary campaign, an extraordinary move for a senior military official.
In May, Hegseth made a last-minute visit to Massie’s district to endorse Ed Gallrein, whose campaign largely avoided media scrutiny.
US Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, introduces a resolution to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth over the US conflict with Iran.
Pete Hegseth speaks during a ceremony at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attack.
‘President Trump needs reinforcements, and that’s what war fighters do. They stand behind leaders and have their back,’ Hegseth said about Massie in May while stumping for Gallrein.
‘Too often, Thomas Massie has acted like his job is to stand apart from the movement that President Trump leads, instead of strengthening it. When President Trump needs backup, Massie wants to debate process.’
‘At some point, being against everything becomes an excuse for accomplishing nothing. At some point, constant obstruction is not leadership. It’s just commentary. It’s obstruction. President Trump does not need more people in Washington who are trying to make a point,’ Hegseth said.
‘When conservatives are fighting the most radical left in American history, too often Massie’s instinct is to throw elbows at fellow Republicans instead of the people who are destroying our country or want to destroy our country.’
The secretary said at the time that he was speaking ‘as a private citizen’ — and not as a member of Trump’s Cabinet. There was no known precedent for a sitting defense secretary actively campaigning for a congressional candidate.
The former Fox News host is a top target of House Democrats who have stirred an uproar about his handling of the Iran war, his central involvement in the SignalGate scandal and his countless strikes in the Caribbean.
‘Hegseth got us into an illegal and costly war in Iran which we are losing. He has fired generals capriciously and ordered the killing of fishermen in the Caribbean,’ Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California told the Daily Mail. ‘He should be impeached.’
All impeachments start in the House, which Democrats are forecast to win this November.
That would hand them the power to subpoena Trump administration officials and drag them before Congress under oath.
Trump reportedly screamed at Hegseth about a military munition shortage problem that he thought was resolved during the Camp David Cabinet meeting shown above in late July
Some have accused Army veteran Hegseth (pictured with wife Jennifer) of being ‘incompetent’ and ‘unfit’ to serve as secretary
Similar to Trump’s first term, when former Speaker Nancy Pelosi maneuvered to foil Trump’s final two years and even brought two impeachments against him, Democrats are planning another wave of resistance.
However, not all on the left are determined that impeachment is the proper path forward, should it become an option. But most are salivating at holding Trump and his posse’s feet to the flames.
‘Pete Hegseth has got to go,’ Congressman Jason Crow, who serves on the House panels overseeing the CIA and Pentagon, told the Daily Mail.
‘Democrats won’t hesitate to use very tool available to hold the Defense Secretary accountable,’ he added, without expounding on whether he has the appetite for impeachment.
He and others have accused Army veteran Hegseth of being ‘incompetent’ and ‘unfit’ to serve as secretary.
Lawmakers on the left have accused him of politicizing the Pentagon, firing experienced generals, and jeopardizing service members by ‘recklessly’ sharing classified information.
‘Pete Hegseth is an unqualified, narcissistic, wannabe Chief of War,’ Democrat Jill Tokuda of Hawaii, another member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Mail.
‘Similar to what this administration did to others, his picture should be stripped from the wall of the Pentagon, he should face charges domestically and globally for crimes against humanity.’
It is not just liberal lawmakers who disapprove of Hegseth, the latest Quinnipiac Poll found that he has a 57 percent disapproval rating compared to 32 percent approval.
The secretary’s net -25 rating has plummeted since the beginning of the Iran conflict, when the same pollster found Hegseth then had a -9 point approval.