Pete Hegseth likes to call himself America’s “secretary of war” — a deliberately provocative title he has used as part of a broader campaign to recast a Pentagon he argued was too weak and “woke” when he took office last year.
This week, that branding may collide with history. With a House impeachment vote expected in the coming days, Mr Hegseth is at risk of joining a short and notorious list that includes an actual secretary of war.
In 1876, William Belknap became the first — and still the only — civilian head of the US military to be impeached by Congress, a mark that has stood for nearly a century and a half.
Now, US Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, has introduced articles of impeachment against Mr Hegseth, triggering a two-day clock that points toward a House vote on allegations that include waging war against Iran without congressional approval, as well as other abuses of power.
Republican Thomas Massie introduced the articles of impeachment against Pete Hegsth
Congressional sources say the resolution could have the straightforward majority needed to pass the Republican-controlled House before Democrats assume control on 3 January.
Even if the House acts, removal looks remote: the Senate requires a two-thirds vote to convict, and Republicans hold 53 of the chamber’s 100 seats.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has pushed back strongly, warning that impeachment “in the middle of hostilities abroad” would be “a terrible thing for our allies and our enemies to see”.
Voters’ anger over the war helped Democrats capture Congress in last week’s midterm elections, deepening Republican rifts over a conflict that Vice President JD Vance has openly questioned while Mr Hegseth has defended it as “courageous and historic”.
Belknap’s saga offers a cautionary parallel. Accused of taking huge kickbacks, he delivered his resignation to former US president Ulysses Grant ahead of his scheduled impeachment vote and, according to a Senate history, “burst into tears”.
The House impeached him anyway, but the Senate later acquitted him after falling short of the required two-thirds majority.
Mr Hegseth, by contrast, is signaling he has no intention of stepping aside.
Hegseth defiant
In recent days Mr Hegseth has taken his case directly to the public, launching a social media push and declaring in a defiant video message last week that he would not back down.
He has also cast himself in the mould of President Donald Trump — impeached twice — arguing: “It didn’t work against President Trump, and it won’t work with me.”
Pressed on whether he has enough Republican support to beat back the impeachment drive, Mr Hegseth replied: “We’re not worried about that.”
Iranians attend an anti-American and anti-US rally in Tehran
He said he will hold a press conference tomorrow — his first at the Pentagon since May.
Mr Trump has publicly sided with his defence secretary and criticised the impeachment effort in a CBS interview aired yesterday.
“They want to impeach him. Very unfair. We had two wars, we won both,” Mr Trump said, according to a CBS transcript of the full interview.
Mr Trump was referring to the Iran war, which remains at an impasse, and to Venezuela, where the US military ousted that country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, in a surprise January commando raid on his compound in the Venezuelan capital.
Defence spending at risk?
Some Republicans say that even if Mr Hegseth survives, the political damage could be lasting — particularly as the Trump administration tries to advance a $1.5 trillion defence spending package through Congress.
Mr Massie, a Trump critic set to leave office in January, argued that impeachment would be “much gentler” than what he says will follow once Democrats take the House.
“They will hold hearings and trials. President Trump should replace Secretary Hegseth now while he can still get a replacement confirmed in the Senate,” Mr Massie said.
Democrats, for their part, have pledged to scrutinise Mr Hegseth on multiple fronts, including the firing of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other senior leaders.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said yesterday he was a “hard yes” on a measure to impeach Mr Hegseth.
Mr Massie’s articles accuse Mr Hegseth of “high crimes and misdemeanours” tied to the Iran war and other alleged abuses of power, including claims that he violated the free speech rights of US Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat.
Last year, Mr Hegseth sought to prosecute Mr Kelly after he and five other Democrats in Congress — with backgrounds in the military and intelligence — urged US troops to refuse illegal orders.
Mr Hegseth accused them of sedition, an allegation Mr Trump amplified at the time in a social media post saying it was “punishable by DEATH!”
