Washington (United States) (AFP) – A Republican lawmaker moved Monday to impeach US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran, setting up a potentially explosive vote in Congress days after President Donald Trump’s party suffered a crushing midterm defeat.
Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment accusing Hegseth of illegally waging war without congressional authorization and abusing his powers as Pentagon chief.
The Republican-controlled House could vote as early as Wednesday, with some lawmakers from Trump’s party signaling they might join Democrats in backing the charges.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio came to Hegseth’s defense Monday while visiting Paris.
“I think it’s unfair. Look, I think Pete’s done a good job, I really do,” Rubio told reporters, praising his colleague as hardworking and “incredibly smart.”
Rubio credited Hegseth with helping build counter-cartel partnerships in the Americas, severely weakening Iran’s military and overseeing the operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Impeachment would be a humiliating blow for the Trump administration, but would not automatically remove Hegseth. Conviction requires a two-thirds majority in the Senate – a much higher hurdle, even after Democrats take control in January.
The move has gathered momentum since Tuesday’s midterms, when Democrats swept both chambers amid voter anger over the Iran war and soaring fuel prices.
Republicans retain control until the new Congress takes office on January 3, but their defeat has fueled recriminations. Defeated Republicans could skip votes, making impeachment easier to pass.
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Wait I thought it was the department of war now…making Hegseth the Secretary of War.
Idk about all you, but while I hate the name change for the department, I really don’t mind calling Hegseth “the sow”. In fact, I kind of enjoy it.
I can’t wait to see him go back to Faux News and watch him attempt drunken manslaughter again.
Is this article from September or November/yesterday?
Republicans might quickly impeach Kegsbreath and install another MAGA before Dems take control and stop any of their appointments from going through.
Very interesting that they’d try to start this before the new Dems even take office. Rats and sinking ships indeed.
Or is this a roundabout way to protect Kegsbreath, by first starting an intentionally flawed impeachment proceeding in order to poison any later attempt?
Or Massie is motivated by revenge/principal/spite and wants to start the fire that burns it all down before he’s done.
Doesn’t really matter, this is the appropriate action and needs to happen.
Yeah but let’s shut the fuck up until January. Don’t start threatening investigations until after they’re sworn in, so they don’t try to block them from being sworn in. Then let it rip.
Couple things:
- The articles of impeachment were introduced by Thomas Massie, a Republican. This was not initiated by the Democrat party.
- The idea that they don’t know investigations are coming is laughable.
- They can’t block them, this is a whole new Congresss.
- Why should the people have to wait? They’re already overdue for justice.
I mean, I don’t disagree. I want blood. But I also want to be assured that blood will happen, and I can wait a few months. And by blood I mean figuratively. Justice should have been swift after Biden won, but once again corporate Democrats dragged their feet trying to do it in a friendly way. I’m not saying we do that again. Way too many people’s lives were upended because the Democrats pussyfooted around for far too long.
This time, we go after everything hard and fast. The heritage foundation, trump admin, the media takeover, AI, surveillance, foreign interference. But make the plan, do it right and make sure it’s air tight. Get real justice, no slaps on the wrist. And after that, make sure it can never happen again.
And by blood I mean literally.
I often think that no amount of bloodshed could assuage my anger and hate since 01/06 till present.
This time, we go after everything hard and fast.
Not going to happen. You don’t unwind 2+ years of malfeasance and corruption quickly. Certainly not when one of the involved parties is still a sitting US president.
That’s why they need to get started as quickly as possible. The best time for these actions was 8 months ago, the second best time is now.
Oh totally. Get the planning started. Look into things that need more looking into. But it’s only 2 months away. You can’t just bang out the paperwork super fast. Start on that quietly now. Do it, make sure your t’s are crossed, your i’s dotted. Make the papers theoretical fort knox’s. That should allow a fuck ton of information to come fast during investigations. You’ve already got your ducks in a row. And you don’t allow the opposition the time to coordinate.
If you announce investigations about specific things 2 months out, you give them time to anticipate the direction they’re going. For instance you can say you’re investigating kushner for corruption. He and his connections can start building defenses for it. But if you don’t play your cards, they know they’ll be investigated for something, and they’ll assume corruption. And they’ll plan for that. But instead, you could go for bribery while their defense has nothing for it. Throw in RICO and you start PAC-MANing up large bits of info that they didn’t expect to need to cover.
That’s just a loose example, and I am obviously not a lawyer, but politicking isn’t exactly lawyering either. It’s a strategy game. Strategy however, is something I am very familiar with. You never, ever let the opposition learn your strategy. Keep the enemy on their toes. Hegseth shows up thinking he’s defending himself about “drug boats” and nail him with civil rights questions about firing top generals. When someone’s on their back foot they give up a lot more information.
All I’m saying is don’t play the cards without a plan.
Thomas Massie, a Republican whose term expires in 2 months filed the articles of impeachment.
Articles of Impeachment are not a criminal trial, they are for removal from office.
Criminal trials likely won’t start until the next Congress because the Republicans still hold the majority through the end of the year and the Dems need the majority to hold the DoJ accountable and to appoint special prosecution.
This administrations crimes were committed publicly. They are not going to be able to hide from them or obscure them. They will work to delay, deny and obstruct.
This will not be fast, it will not be some “gotcha” prosecution like you seem to expect. This will drag on and become tedious and boring at times.
Your expectation of swift and righteous justice is misplaced and you’re setting yourself up for disappointment
He and his connections can start building defenses for it.
(And destroying as much evidence as possible, of course.)
You don’t unwind 2+ years of malfeasance and corruption quickly.
You don’t need to.
You just need one simple and solid charge that will stick for an impeachment. Impeach the fuckers, and then worry about unraveling the rat’s nest of corruption after they’re out of office. When it comes to criminal cases later, then is the time for going slowly and methodically and leaving no stone unturned. But for now, we need swift, decisive action based on the most important and obvious points.
Do you know how long the impeachment process takes?
Trump was impeached twice with the first taking ~6 months and the second ~1 year and that was for one person. Those impeachments also failed at the removal step.
This will not be a quick process. You are deluding yourself if you think otherwise.
so they don’t try to block them from being sworn in
They’ll do that regardless.
But, fun fact, it doesn’t matter if the new batch of congresscritters is sworn in or not – the ones who were voted out stop being congressmen on January 3rd, whether they have a replacement sworn in or not. No matter if their replacements get sworn in or not, they have to go. (Although I’m unclear on the subject of successful incumbents. They certainly don’t have to leave, since they won reelection … but do they need to be sworn in again after every election, or do they just keep going on like before?)
But if they try to play too many games with the ‘swearing in’ nonesense, the incoming congressmen can play hardball right back. There’s no constitutional requirement for being sworn in, not even a rule of Senate/House procedure. It’s just traditional that new congressmen get sworn in before participating. But if they’re playing games with not letting the new ones get sworn in, they could also just show up and start participating/voting anyway. Maybe swear themselves in first, and dare the rest to stop them. The current batch of Republicans have violated plenty of norms and traditions already, and if they try to use this norm/tradition as a stumbling block, then let’s violate this one too.
Nah, Massie tried this before the election, but Johnson dismissed the house early to avoid it. He’s just picking up right where he left off. Also, Massie is leaving Congress, so is trying to get his name out there one last time
I see it more as he doesn’t have anything to lose by starting impeachment. He got voted out and now he can be free with his votes and power without kowtowing to anyone.
Massie lost the Republican primary a few months ago; he wasn’t on the ballot.
Sorry, that one is on me. I don’t follow politics closely. I thought he got the boot when everyone else did but I see now that his defiance of trump got him first. I stand corrected.
It would fit with the suspicious pattern of Republicans suddenly growing a spine as soon as they’re no longer concerned about reelection anymore.
Whiskeachment
I love that Rubio’s defense of Hegseth laid out more war crimes that he did. WTF?
That was almost certainly on purpose.
Rubio wisely used espionage and special forces in a way where the US could claim victory regardless of the outcome. Any conquest is an American win. Any defeat can be recharacterized as terrorism, villainous tyrannical socialism, drug cartel violence, or generic brown person evil.
Hegseth stupidly charged head first into a losing conflict where he bragged about being the aggressor. Not only did he lose, but he adopted the persona of a cartoon supervillain while losing.
Cartoon super villain! That’s what’s familiar!
Thanks!
