Massie Threatens Hegseth With Impeachment as Republicans Turn on the Iran War

Massie Threatens Hegseth With Impeachment as Republicans Turn on the Iran War
The Republican Party’s post-election reckoning is rapidly becoming a fight over Pete Hegseth’s future, with Rep. Thomas Massie demanding that the defense secretary resign or face impeachment while President Donald Trump continues to defend him.

Massie says he plans to reintroduce articles of impeachment against Hegseth when Congress returns, unless the secretary steps down. His ultimatum comes after Republicans suffered a major midterm defeat that critics have linked to the Iran war. A conservative account described the move as an escalation with fresh political weight because Republicans are increasingly blaming the conflict for their losses.

The liberal account presents Massie’s challenge as part of a broader Republican revolt. It says CNN expects House Republicans to vote on a resolution repudiating Hegseth and quotes Massie arguing that the election disaster could not be explained by a single issue alone: “You don’t screw up this badly an election with just one issue.” He also accused Republicans of failing to break with what he called the “cultish following of Donald Trump.”

Trump, however, has shown no inclination to remove Hegseth. Asked whether he would fire him, Trump replied, “No, I think he’s doing a very good job,” and repeated that assessment when discussing the possibility of Hegseth replacing Marsha Blackburn in the Senate.

The contrast is stark: Massie is using the election result to press for accountability and a change in war policy, while Trump is treating Hegseth’s performance as satisfactory. Both accounts agree that impeachment is becoming a serious internal Republican confrontation, but they diverge sharply over whether the defense secretary represents the problem—or whether the party should remain aligned with the president.