Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth testifies to Congress during his confirmation hearing in January 2025. Hegseth is likely to face articles of impeachment in the lame-duck House session, and almost certainly in the ensuing Democratic-majority session starting in January. (Shutterstock/Joshua Sukoff)

Could Pete Hegseth Actually Be Impeached? Here’s What to Know

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Hegseth is likely to face challenges from both the incoming Democrats and disgruntled outgoing Republicans in the lame-duck session.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has fewer than 60 days remaining in office, but he appears ready to dish out some vengeance before he leaves Congress on January 3, 2027.

A libertarian Republican who broke with President Donald Trump over the ongoing war in Iran, Massie lost his highly contentious primary bid in May to retired US Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein, a Trump ally. Yet while Gallrein won his general election on Tuesday, the Democrats scored  massive wins elsewhere in the country, flipping at least seven Senate seats and dozens of House seats in historically “red” states such as Kansas, South Carolina, and Texas. With newfound majorities in both chambers starting in January, some Democrats have suggested that they would pursue articles of impeachment against Trump allies in the cabinet such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

They may be too late. With nothing on the line, and perhaps with some of his fellow Republicans who already lost their House races ready to support his efforts, the outgoing Kentucky representative has made clear that he would push to impeach Hegseth, who he accused of violating the Constitution during the conduct of the Iran war.

“There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns,” Massie wrote on X on Wednesday evening. That post had more than 1.7 million views as of Thursday afternoon, with more than 52,000 likes.

Massie had previously attempted to impeach Hegseth in September, claiming that the secretary “has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as secretary of defense and subversive of constitutional government.” After it became clear that the September........

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