Pete Hegseth confronts House with a lame-duck impeachment dilemma

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Today's Top Stories - September 22, 2026

Today's Top Stories - September 22, 2026

The impeachment effort against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posed a dilemma for Republican leaders ahead of the midterms. In the lame duck, it could be Democrats in the bind.

Hegseth is leading an unpopular war in Iran, and GOP leaders were eager to avoid an impeachment vote this month, which would have put some vulnerable Republicans in a tough spot heading into November’s elections. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) defused the issue by punting that vote until after the elections.

But the tides are likely to turn after the election, when Republicans will be freed to weigh in on Hegseth’s fate without fear of a voter backlash, while Democrats will face a tougher choice.

Do they go charging after Hegseth full bore, to appease a liberal base demanding Pentagon accountability? Or do they tread more cautiously, to allow time for the formal investigations many Democrats say they want to see before backing something as explosive as impeachment? 

Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over impeachment proceedings, suggested that answering those questions won’t be easy. 

“I think that all impeachment articles should be sent to the Judiciary Committee, and we should scrutinize them,” Raskin, a former professor of constitutional law, said last week as Congress was leaving Washington for the long campaign recess. 

“I’m not a huge fan of pop-up impeachments,” Raskin continued, “but if that’s all Speaker Johnson leaves us, then we will have to take it very seriously.”

The issue will be an early, postelection test for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries........

© The Hill