Rep. Thomas Massie Leads House Impeachment Drive Against Defense Secretary Hegseth
A retiring Republican congressman initiating impeachment proceedings against a sitting cabinet member from his own party is a relatively rare alignment of partisan and institutional conflict.
Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) is leading a drive in the House of Representatives to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, according to reporting by The New York Times on November 10, 2026. Massie is a Republican, as is Hegseth, making the impeachment effort a cross-party action within the same party's government.
Massie is not seeking reelection at the end of his current term. He lost a Republican primary challenge to a candidate backed by President Trump, according to the same New York Times report. His retirement removes a potential political cost that might otherwise deter a sitting member from moving against a cabinet officer of his own party.
Impeachment of a cabinet officer requires a simple majority vote in the House of Representatives under Article I of the U.S. Constitution. If the House votes to impeach, the Senate then conducts a trial, with a two-thirds majority required for conviction and removal. Cabinet impeachments are rare in U.S. History. The most recent completed example was the 1876 impeachment of Secretary of War William Belknap, who resigned before the Senate voted on removal.
As of the date of publication, the specific articles of impeachment Massie intends to file have not been made public in the available source material. The formal text of any articles filed would appear in the Congressional Record upon introduction in the House.
It is not known, based on available source material, how many co-sponsors, if any, Massie has secured for the impeachment resolution. A list of co-sponsors would be available through the House Clerk's office and the official Congress.gov legislative tracking system once a resolution is formally introduced.
Hegseth was confirmed as Secretary of Defense following a Senate vote earlier in the current administration. The confirmation vote record is available through the Senate's official roll call archives. The margin of that confirmation vote and any Republican opposition at that stage are relevant context for assessing the current breadth of Republican dissatisfaction, but those details are not specified in the available source material for this report.
Massie has historically taken independent positions within the Republican caucus, including votes against leadership-backed legislation on government spending and foreign policy. His voting record is documented in full in the Congressional Record and through the House Clerk's office.
The drive comes amid broader reported tension between some House Republicans and the Trump administration. An opinion piece published November 10, 2026 in The Hill argued that Republican electoral losses in recent cycles reflect voter dissatisfaction with positions aligned closely with the president, though that piece represents opinion and not reported fact.
Whether other Republicans will formally join Massie's impeachment effort before it reaches a floor vote is unknown. The key document that would answer this question is any impeachment resolution introduced in the House, which would carry a bill number and list of co-sponsors upon filing with the House Clerk.
What remains unknown: the specific charges Massie plans to bring, the current count of House members who have committed to supporting the resolution, and whether House leadership intends to schedule the resolution for a floor vote or refer it to committee. All of these details would become part of the public Congressional Record upon formal introduction of the resolution.