House Democrats move to impeach Pete Hegseth

House Democrats have filed six articles of impeachment against US defense secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of “high crimes and misdemeanors” tied to military action against Iran carried out without congressional authorization. The resolution, led by Arizona representative Yassamin Ansari and co-sponsored by colleagues including Connecticut’s John Larson, also cites other episodes, including lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats and alleged mishandling of sensitive information.

According to The Guardian, the impeachment push lands as Congress again fails to impose formal limits on the Trump administration’s Iran campaign. Senate Democrats fell short on a war powers resolution, 47–52, with Republican senator Rand Paul voting in favor and Democratic senator John Fetterman voting against. The vote was described as the fourth failed attempt to curb the operation, but the first since Congress returned from recess and after a two-week ceasefire began.

The House resolution reads less like a viable removal effort than a bid to force clarity on who authorizes war and who bears responsibility when operations go wrong. Ansari and her co-sponsors argue that Hegseth disregarded rules designed to minimize civilian casualties; the filing references reporting that US strikes may have hit a school in Iran in March, killing at least 175 people, including children. It also folds in allegations of “careless and improper conduct” that compromised national security, citing an episode in which classified information was shared on Signal.

The dispute highlights how the US system handles military escalation when partisan incentives run in opposite directions. The executive can act quickly, claim operational necessity, and leave Congress to litigate after the fact—often through symbolic votes that fail on party lines. For lawmakers, impeachment filings can function as a public record and a campaign tool even when the numbers to convict are absent. For the Pentagon, the cost of a contested strike is often political rather than institutional: operations continue, while accountability is argued over in press statements and committee hearings.

A Pentagon spokesperson, Kingsley Wilson, dismissed the impeachment articles as “another charade” and told Axios they were meant to distract from “major successes” at the Department of War, The Guardian reports. With Republicans holding majorities in both the House and Senate, the measure is not expected to advance.

The articles of impeachment were filed the same week the Senate again failed to pass a war powers resolution limiting the Iran campaign.