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A Republican congressman began the process to force a vote in the US House of Representatives this week to remove Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after alleging that he violated his country's Constitution.
"By engaging in hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without congressional authorization, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable," said Congressman Thomas Massie.
The attempt is likely to fail, as Republicans will retain control of Congress until January.
However, Massie says he wants to pressure President Donald Trump to remove Hegseth before Democrats can begin their own impeachment process.
On Monday afternoon, November 9, Massie formally presented the articles of impeachment in a resolution before the House of Representatives.
"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do," the outgoing congressman told reporters after presenting the articles.
image source, Reuters
"We're not worried about that"
Asked by reporters Monday morning about the impending resolution, Hegseth said, "We're not worried about that."
He added that he would hold a news conference Tuesday morning "on that very topic." Hegseth's last press conference was in May.
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Massie, who lost re-election earlier this year, has been a harsh critic of Trump and the war in Iran since the conflict began nearly nine months ago.
The congressman is known nationwide for pressuring the government to release federal records on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Kentucky congressman first introduced articles of impeachment in September and is now pushing for a vote following the loss of Republican control of both the House and Senate in last week's midterm elections.
Massie assures that his initiative to remove Hegseth seeks to avoid a Democratic spectacle next year.
"My attempt to remove Secretary Hegseth is a much more moderate version of what will happen when Democrats take control of the House and Senate next year," Massie said in a statement.
"They will hold hearings and trials," he added.
"President Trump should replace Secretary Hegseth now, while he can still get his replacement confirmed by the Senate," he added.
The impeachment process of a cabinet secretary is very rare. For the secretary to be removed from office, the dismissal must be approved by both chambers.
As in the presidential trial, the House of Representatives would vote first on the charges against Hegseth and the Senate would hold a trial to decide whether to acquit or convict him.
The House of Representatives has only voted to impeach two Cabinet members in American history, but the Senate did not convict either man.
The impeachment trial
While impeachment has been a highly unusual process throughout American history, it has become much more common since the House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton in 1998, said Paul Gowder, a law professor at Northwestern University in Chicago.
Trump was impeached by the House twice.
"Impeachment has become much more common as the country has become politically polarized," said Gowder, who anticipates that several more members of Trump's Cabinet could face impeachment.
Now that Massie has introduced his resolution, House Speaker Mike Johnson must schedule a meeting to consider it within two days.
In addition to voting directly on the resolution, the House has the option of referring it to committee or setting it aside.
Massie is likely to have the support of House Democrats, whose leader, Hakeem Jeffries, declared Sunday that he strongly supports impeachment.
However, Massie would still have to convince members of his own party.
Massie told reporters that he was not sure if the measure had enough support to pass.
Peter Loge, professor of public affairs at George Washington University, told the BBC that the impeachment measure is "likely to pass the House of Representatives due to the slim Republican majority."
"And there are enough Republicans upset that many Republicans simply don't show up to vote," he added.
Currently, there are 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats in the House of Representatives.
The Senate requires a two-thirds majority to convict someone, a difficult threshold to reach in the current legislature.
When Democrats take control in January, they still won't have enough seats to convict Hegseth without Republican support.
In the articles, Massie also accused Hegseth of intimidating critics of the Trump administration, kidnapping foreign leaders and ignoring congressional resolutions on war powers.
The House of Representatives passed a war powers resolution — a measure aimed at preventing Trump from taking further military action in Iran — several times this year with Massie's support.
The Senate also passed a war powers resolution over the summer.
The option of dismissal
Gowder said that if Hegseth were to resign today, the Senate, currently controlled by Republicans, could approve a replacement before the start of the new term.
Democrats plan to "pick their battles" and would probably approve "someone reasonable," he added.
But the question is whether Trump would choose a "qualified candidate" who is "minimally acceptable to Democrats," he added.
Given that he recently named Stephen Miller as chief of staff, Trump may not opt for a more centrist option, he said.
Loge said the chances of Hegseth surviving to the end of Trump's term were "pretty slim," but he expected he would be removed from office rather than impeached.
"Secretary Hegseth is a strong figure and I'm not sure I would want to be a strong figure that attracts President Trump's attention these days," Loge said. "That is not the way to guarantee stability in office."
This article was originally written in English and we used an artificial intelligence tool to translate it. A BBC journalist reviewed the text before publication. Learn more about how we use AI.
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