Congress returns Monday for a five-week lame-duck session, and within two legislative days of Rep. Thomas Massie raising it, the House must vote on whether to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war with Iran.
Massie, a Kentucky Republican who lost his primary this year and has often broken with Trump, told ABC News he intends to reintroduce a privileged resolution carrying eight articles of impeachment as early as Monday. A question of privilege obliges House leaders to schedule a vote within two legislative days, which puts the showdown in the middle of the week.
What the articles say
Three of the eight charge Hegseth with violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973: waging the Iran war with no declaration of war, statutory authorization, or imminent threat; continuing it after both chambers passed H.Con.Res. 86 directing the removal of U.S. forces; and continuing past the resolution's 60-day termination period and any 30-day withdrawal window. The rest charge him with ignoring laws meant to limit civilian casualties; with replacing maritime drug interdiction with lethal military targeting that "resulted in at least 221 deaths," including secondary strikes on survivors and a failure to rescue the shipwrecked; with retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly for questioning unlawful orders; with the "kidnapping" of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores in Venezuela, under Operation Absolute Resolve; and with an unauthorized war in Yemen, Operation Rough Rider. The full text is on Massie's House site.
The politics
A Republican forcing the vote is the unusual part; Democratic support is not. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday he is a "hard yes" — "the so-called secretary of defense has abused his power, undermined our national security, and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran." He said he expects "incredibly strong support," and that House Democrats will take it up Tuesday morning, their first meeting since the election.
Adam Smith (D-WA), poised to chair the House Armed Services Committee, told The Seattle Times he will prioritize "oversight of Pete Hegseth's Pentagon" and backs the impeachment push — a shift from May, when he told TIME that impeachments had "inadvertently empowered the impeached." Smith wants Hegseth and Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg to testify, and listed what he says the Pentagon has not answered: no report back on the Minab girls' school strike, no clarity on the Kuwait strike that killed six service members, no accounting of the cost of bases destroyed in the Middle East. Incoming House Oversight Chairman Robert Garcia (D-CA) told the administration to "lawyer up."
Impeaching Hegseth needs a House majority; removing him needs two-thirds of the Senate. Trump said Thursday he has "every intention" to keep him, who has "done a fantastic job." Hegseth, in a video that day, called the articles "sham" and "the politics of personal destruction," and said he will not back down on the war.
A parallel front
On 11-02, three watchdog groups — CREW, Public Citizen and POGO — sued Hegseth and Defense technology chief Emil Michael over Project Meridian, the "future of warfare" panel Hegseth announced on 09-30 and put under Michael, led by Newt Gingrich, Elon Musk and Palmer Luckey. The suit, in federal court in Washington, alleges the panel breaks the Federal Advisory Committee Act: no Federal Register notice of its creation, no written justification for closed meetings, no indication it keeps records, and no conflict-of-interest provisions for a membership the plaintiffs call dominated by contractors with a stake in its advice. Nineteen of 21 members work in the private sector; SpaceX has taken more than \$8 billion in defense contracts in 2026, Anduril about \$25 billion. The groups want the committee declared unlawful and paused until it complies.
The war has not paused
The U.S. struck Iranian air-defense targets on Qeshm Island again on 11-06 — Trump confirmed "minor strikes" that destroyed "a little" anti-aircraft system, and Iran's Tasnim reported two missiles hit the island. It followed the 11-02 strike I wrote about, and U.S. officials are reportedly discussing broader strikes even as Iranian drones and mines keep hitting commercial shipping around Hormuz. On 11-06 CENTCOM offered up to \$20 million and relocation for information on Iran's nuclear program. On 11-07 it announced Task Force Iron Gate, meant to extend the naval blockade to overland routes including the Caspian Sea; Trump said Sunday it is "in full force and effect," and Iran's military dismissed it as "word play." Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday the two sides are not "on the verge of a breakthrough," calling Iran's demands "outrageous." Trump, on 60 Minutes, said the war "will be considered a very good decision" in the future, and compared himself to Ulysses S. Grant.
What to watch
The House vote midweek; whether Smith's committee gets Hegseth and Feinberg to testify; and the National Defense Authorization Act, which must pass before the end of 2026 and where disputes over Iran funding will surface. Government funding runs out after 12-11.