The resolution concerns eight points and was submitted by his party colleague Thomas Massie, a member of the House of Representatives.
“Secretary Hegseth is accused of waging war against Iran without a declaration of war, even though the United States was not attacked and faced no imminent threat,” Massie writes. Under the US Constitution, only Congress has the power to declare war, but Trump has called it a “military operation” to get around this.
According to NBC, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the resolution this week.
Some of the other points Massie raises in his resolution concern extrajudicial killings, the kidnapping of a foreign leader (Venezuela’s then-President Nicolás Maduro) and an “illegal war in Yemen.”
Hegseth: Background noise
The announcement comes just hours after Hegseth, who together with President Donald Trump has changed the title of the post to Secretary of War, announced that he would hold a press conference on Tuesday specifically about the risk of impeachment.
If you have a problem with what we did in Epic Fury (the Iran war) or Rough Rider (the military operation in Yemen) or with our capture of Nicolás Maduro, then you have a problem with our soldiers and what they have accomplished, he said, according to the AP, calling the threat of impeachment background noise.
My team and I are not worried about the noise, and I have told the soldiers that too: don’t worry about the noise.
Strong yes
Since the Democrats regained the majority in both houses of Congress in the midterm elections, there has been talk that Hegseth may be impeached. On Sunday, Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives and the person tipped to become speaker of the House in January, said he gave a “hard yes” to impeachment proceedings.
The so-called Secretary of Defense has abused his power, undermined our national security and carried out this reckless and costly self-inflicted war in Iran, he told ABC.
For his part, Trump defended Hegseth on Sunday, according to the AP.
He is guilty of two things, of having basically won two wars. The way I see it, we saved the Middle East and Israel. And it is terribly difficult to say that you should impeach someone who accomplished that.
Massie, a Kentucky Republican, is one of the fiercest critics of Trump among the party’s top brass in Washington, D.C., but is leaving Congress in January. He lost the party’s primary earlier this year to a Trump-backed candidate.
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