The outgoing congressman included eight charges against Hegseth, largely related to the Iran war.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., on Monday reintroduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the U.S. war with Iran.
A House vote on the articles is expected as soon as this week.
Massie, a longtime Trump critic who’s retiring from Congress at the end of the year, brought eight charges against Hegseth, accusing him of “waging the Iran war despite no declaration of war, statutory authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat.”
Publicly hang him
Do unto others, I guess. He wanted a traitor shot by firing squad. War crimes probably have the same penalty. Would the Secretary have the same view for Secretaries convicted of treason?
That’s fine as a start but it doesn’t address the root cause. Rs have a short window to disavow maga and support impeaching and convicting the felon in the oval office. Anything short of that shows they aren’t serious about wanting to fix the damage they helped cause.
I don’t think anyone would be like “oh that guy with the SS tattoo was being coerced into forwarding a fascist agenda, thank god he’s finally able to break free”
Anything short of that shows they aren’t serious about wanting to fix the damage they helped cause.
Serious? Since when do they even have a pretense of wanting to fix that damage?
Republicans do not have a short window to disavow MAGA. They were disavowed by MAGA a decade ago, and they were already fascist puppets by that point anyways, he just emboldened them.
I frankly cannot imagine how you can even be slightly willing to give them any kind of forgiveness or formalities at this point in time, it’s frankly bewildering. It’s like seeing people give handshakes to confederate soldiers in the middle of the civil war knowing fully that they just want to keep being slavers and oligarchs.
Edit: and they obviously don’t give a shit about fixing the damage!!! This has been in their plans since fucking Reagan
Because 1/3 of the nation isn’t going to change its worldview overnight, and very few of them a criminals in a way anything can be quickly done about. The GOP isn’t going to just dissolve and go away, America will always have a conservative block. However, damage control RIGHT NOW means a very tentative olive branch to the Congresspersons that have been the least vocal MAGA supporters, certainly including the few like Massie that have, despite towing the Republican line, at least been outspoken about executive overreach.
His objection is the war, good enough for me. Who else can we find with objections? Gather them, use them, let them hope that by cooperating they may get to retain power. Dragging the Overton Window back to the left should be the first objective. Show the American People that the law is The Law, no matter who broke it. Start earning back the working class, enough of them are stupid enough to, in this ideal scenario, completely allow themselves to forget “Better a Russian than a Demoncrat”, and pretend they’ve always been blue.
I wish that weren’t the best I think we should hope for, but in reality a socialist America is still very long way off. And I’d like for trans kids to get to play sports in the interim.
Edit for paragraphs
The outlook for the Republican party here in Texas is grim. We’ve a had a ton of Republicans stand up to Trump, Abbott, and Paxton over the years, and most of them were punished with derogatory smears and primary challenges. Many of those Republicans are Democrats now, and see no place for themselves in a future Republican party.
Look no further than Don Huffines to see the downfall of MAGA. He’s taken to blaming Abbott and Paxton for the loss for “not being MAGA enough.” His election watch party looked depressing as fuck and no one was buying his “they despise you, only I will fight for you” bullshit.
The war in Iran is getting a lot of the blame for Republican losses, and this is a chance for the losers to get some revenge on the way out.
… investigate and prosecute after impeachment
To elaborate on what Catoblepas said, impeachment triggers the trial, which enables discovery. The Senate then brings indictments forward, and 2/3rds vote is required for a verdict of removal from office.
I want to note that this is not like normal trials where a unanimous jury is necessary.
Upon removal from office, additional investigations into criminal acts can be accomplished as they no longer hold protections of the state.
Impeachment is the first step of prosecution for elected officials, it goes to the Senate and if they’re found guilty they’ll be convicted. The Democrats will need to lure some Republicans onto their side for that though, since as impressive as their wins were they still can’t unilaterally get a 2/3rds majority vote.
The Democrats will need to lure some Republicans onto their side for that though
I am cautiously optimistic that some republicans would move noticing how associating with the orange pedophile is like hugging an anchor after a shipwreck… but not holding my breath because cultist will cult
I’ve given up on predicting anything after MTG turned back on them and quit (she was a Representative, but still). Hopefully at least a few of them see which way the wind is blowing and are more willing to do it against someone who isn’t Trump.
I’d love this to be true, but point to which sitting Republican senators would go along with it
The ones most vulnerable to pressure could be those up for election in ’28 in states that flipped last week. Using that criteria, Ted Budd (NC), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Tim Scott (SC) and Jerry Moran (Kansas) could be worth pressuring to cooperate now if they want to get reelected.
Chuck Grassley is 93. If he dies in the next 2 years, a Democratic governor gets to appoint his replacement. If he doesn’t die, I don’t anticipate anything different from him. Why should he care what happens? He’s about to die and cares about no one else.
Tim Scott is dyed-in-the-wool. The only daylight between him and Trump is when Trump is overtly racist against black people, at which point Scott meets with him, tells Trump his feelings were hurt, and walks away to tell the press “he really listened this time.”
Jerry Moran actually has some principles and has disagreed publicly with Trump quite a bit, especially on foreign policy. He’s a maybe.
Ted Budd
Literally never heard of this person.
They’re not in the cult at this level, they’re part of a mob. It’s a very different thing; as they are fully part of the crime apparatus, they’re not brainwashed, they are part of the direct, fascist opposition to Democracy.
Yes. And underlings will need to be flipped to get the bosses. Some might feel like they will get political or actual immunity for flipping.
All they have to do is put that clown on the stand under oath and he’ll destroy himself. Nobody in this administration is operating above a mid-wit level. Couple that with all the closetcase macho insecurity shit and you’ve got an implosion with minimal poking. I could make him lose his shit, but they won’t let me ask the questions.
Good thing he waited until just before he’s retiring. What an asshole. Tbf he will get more traction on it now, but still.
He didn’t wait. Massie’s interesting
- No AIPAC funding
- 2025
- 2026
- March: condemned the “illegal, unconstitutional, and pre-emptive war” on the House floor
- May: introduced a bill to more tightly regulate AIPAC and other lobbyists representing foreign interests
- May: primaried out by the administration
- June: only Republican cosponsor of the reintroduced resolution mentioned before passed by Congress and ignored by the president
- July: introduced Epstein Files Transparency Act II
- September: moved onto attempting to impeach Hegseth before elections, but House Speaker Johnson adjourned the House early to preempt a vote.
One of the few Republican legislators doing anything to check the President.
He’s not retiring; he lost his primary to a MAGA.
He legitimately has a shred of integrity and got punished for it.
Well the OP says he’s retiring.
Yes, in the same way that a 50-something worker might get fired for cause and call it “retirement.” It’s a euphemism to save face.
There’s no double jeopardy for impeachment. It’s not a criminal trial; it’s a political one.
If this one fails, the dems can try again in a couple months. Hopefully they won’t need to.
The voters clearly don’t approve of Kegsbreath, Republicans. Do something to show that you have your own brains.
Massie pointed that out in an article I read and also pointed out his is impeachment lite, once the D’s are in control. of the House, its very likely they go in much much harder if this hasn’t been dealt with. I assume that was an attempt to encourage his fellow GOP-ers :) to get on board.
And if the Republicans do it now, the Democrats don’t get credit for it next Congress. Seems like a smart play.
Maisse isn’t in the next congress, that’s why he’s doing it now.
But yeah, if it doesn’t pass now it almost certainly will in two months.
I’ve six beers in my fridge, and one has his name on it.
With many more to come.
