A Republican member of the US House of Representatives has filed a resolution to impeach War Secretary Pete Hegseth, according to SVT Nyheter. The measure was submitted by Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a congressman from Hegseth's own party.
The resolution sets out eight points concerning Hegseth's role in the war with Iran and in military operations in Yemen and Venezuela, SVT Nyheter reports.
The filing came only hours after Hegseth announced he would hold a press conference on Tuesday addressing those same matters and the prospect of impeachment. Hegseth and President Donald Trump have changed the title of the post from defense secretary to war secretary.
Why it matters
The resolution places the conduct of a sitting war secretary formally before Congress at a moment when control of both chambers is shifting. SVT Nyheter notes that since the Democrats regained majorities in the House and the Senate, there had been talk that Trump's and Hegseth's political opponents would move to impeach the secretary once the newly elected members convene early next year.
Massie's filing arrived ahead of that timetable, and it came from within the president's own party. Massie is among Trump's sharpest critics inside the Republican Party and will leave Washington DC in January. Earlier this year he lost his party's primary to a candidate backed by Trump.
Hegseth's own framing of the dispute
Before the resolution was filed, Hegseth signaled that he expected a fight over the military actions. In comments quoted by SVT Nyheter, he tied criticism of the operations directly to the troops who carried them out.
He referred to the Iran war as Epic Fury, the military operation in Yemen as Rough Rider, and the detention of Venezuela's then-president Nicolás Maduro. Hegseth said that anyone who objects to those actions has a problem with American soldiers and with what they accomplished.
The eight points in Massie's resolution center on those same episodes, according to SVT Nyheter's account, meaning the document and the secretary's public defense address the same set of decisions.
A critic on his way out
Massie's move carries unusual political weight because of his position within the party. He has been a persistent internal opponent of Trump, and his departure in January means he will not face voters again under the current leadership. His primary defeat earlier this year removed him from the next Congress.
That combination — a party colleague, a known internal critic, and a lawmaker with no further electoral stake — shaped how the filing landed. SVT Nyheter reports that the resolution was submitted just hours before Hegseth's scheduled remarks, putting the secretary in the position of answering questions about impeachment at a press conference he had already called to discuss the military operations.
The timing also places the effort ahead of the broader impeachment talk that had been expected once the new Congress gathers. Whether Massie's resolution advances, stalls, or serves mainly to force the debate into the open will become clearer after Hegseth's Tuesday press conference and as the new session begins.
