Republican Congressman Thomas Massie has introduced a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war, the killing of civilians, strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats and alleged violations of US law.
He introduced the resolution in the US House of Representatives on Monday. In the country’s nearly 250-year history only two cabinet members have been impeached. If the resolution passes, Hegseth will be the third cabinet member in US history to be impeached.
The Hindustan Times and Al Jazeera reported the news on Tuesday (10 November). Massie alleges that Hegseth has committed impeachable offences at least eight times since taking charge as defence secretary in the Trump administration. They include waging war on Iran without the approval of Congress, violating the War Powers law, military operations that caused civilian deaths, and the abduction of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
He is also accused of waging an unlawful war against the Houthis in Yemen, interfering with freedom of expression by restricting press access to the Pentagon, and blocking the promotion of 50 officers nominated for the rank of general or admiral.
Massie’s articles say Hegseth has built a culture of war-fighting in which the risk to civilian lives and the rules of military operations are ignored. As an example he cites the US bombing of a school in the Iranian city of Minab. More than 150 people were killed in that strike at the start of the US and Israeli war last February, about 120 of them children. Hegseth is also accused of ignoring laws and restrictions designed to reduce civilian deaths. Massie also describes the US strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific as extrajudicial killings.
Massie first sought Hegseth’s impeachment last September, before the midterm elections, on eight similar charges. But Republican Speaker Mike Johnson avoided a vote by ending the session early. Massie introduced the resolution again when the House session opened on Monday.
It was the first House session since the Republicans lost their majority in both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections. The new Democratic members take office in January. Massie believes an investigation of Hegseth may begin then, and that senior administration officials may also face questioning. He said Hegseth should resign before that happens.
Cabinet members have been impeached only twice before in US history. The first was in 1876, when William Belknap, secretary of war under President Ulysses S. Grant, was impeached. The Civil War veteran had become caught up in a corruption scandal. He was accused of gross neglect of the duties of his office and of taking money in return for government appointments. Belknap resigned before the House voted on impeachment, but he was impeached all the same. He was later acquitted in the Senate, which lacked the two-thirds majority needed to convict.
Nearly 150 years later, in 2024, Alejandro Mayorkas, homeland security secretary in President Joe Biden’s administration, became the second. He was accused of failing to enforce immigration law, breaching public trust by making false statements to Congress, defying congressional subpoenas and obstructing oversight. The House passed the impeachment resolution by a narrow margin. But the Senate found that the charges did not rise to the high crimes and misdemeanours the Constitution sets for impeachment, and he was acquitted.
Trump, however, has stood by Hegseth. In a brief telephone interview with Reuters he said Hegseth had won two wars under his leadership, in Venezuela and Iran, so why would he be impeached? Trump also asked why nobody was asking to impeach the people who fought long wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq and got nothing for it.
He said Hegseth had done a good job as defence secretary. Calling Massie a “loser” and a “failure” on Truth Social, Trump wrote that military recruitment had gone from an all-time low to an all-time high, and that Hegseth should be praised for two victories in Venezuela and Iran, not impeached. He called on members of Congress to stand by him.
With Trump’s backing, Hegseth said he was not worried about the impeachment resolution. He told reporters on Monday that many politically motivated people were objecting over policy differences, but that he was ready for Congress to discuss or examine the Trump administration’s military operations. He is due to hold a press conference on the matter on Tuesday.
Under the Constitution, however, the president cannot stop or veto the impeachment of a cabinet member, even if he wants to. The resolution will pass if it wins the support of a majority of the House’s 435 members. Conviction and removal from office in the Senate would then need two-thirds of its 100 members, or 67 votes.
Although the Democrats reached 54 seats in the Senate after the midterms, that is short of the 67 votes needed. Removing Hegseth would therefore need the support of several Republicans as well as the Democrats.
Republican Speaker Johnson has opposed Massie’s move. In his words, cabinet members should not be impeached for political advantage or as a cheap tactic. Trump administration officials have also opposed the effort to impeach Hegseth. Meanwhile, the Iran war has been unpopular with the American public, and that has caused concern within the administration itself.
Several administration officials have even admitted publicly that the war played a part in the Republicans’ midterm defeat. Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Hegseth’s work and called the Iran war “necessary”, while admitting that it is not very popular.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report