A Republican congressman accused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of committing more illegal acts than anyone else in the administration, after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called off Thursday's impeachment vote of the cabinet official.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) delivered the speech on the House floor Wednesday, one day after he introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth.
Johnson announced earlier Wednesday that he was sending members home for a seven-week campaign recess, a decision that pushes any impeachment vote past the November midterm elections, CNN reported.
Massie read the articles aloud Tuesday and filed them as a privileged resolution, a procedural step that gives the speaker 48 hours to schedule a vote, he said. That deadline would have fallen Thursday.
"So why did he just cut another day off the calendar?" Massie asked.
Johnson had dismissed Massie's earlier prediction of a pre-election recess as "a nonsensical statement by someone who is not participating as a full member of the Congress," Mediaite reported.
"By the way, Speaker Johnson says I'm not a fully participating member of Congress," Massie said. "Why would we be canceling days when the country is burning, the inflation is rampant? … But I did figure out why we canceled tomorrow, and that's what I'm explaining to you as a fully participating member of Congress."
Johnson told reporters the early departure had nothing to do with Hegseth, according to CNN. He attacked Massie for the impeachment push.
"It is a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention," Johnson said at the time. "We should not be playing games with national security."
However, Johnson's denial did not match what Republican leadership was saying behind the scenes.
Leaders who were discussing canceling Thursday's votes wanted to avoid the privileged impeachment vote, NOTUS congressional reporter Reese Gorman wrote on X before the announcement, citing sources.
The 34-page resolution accuses Hegseth of repeatedly abusing his office in the war with Iran, CNN reported. Massie wrote that Hegseth carried out unlawful orders and kept troops deployed without approval from Congress.
"If you're looking over at the administrative branch and trying to give an award for the person who's racked up the most illegal and unconstitutional acts, there's one clear winner," Massie said. "It's Peter Brian Hegseth, secretary of defense, who has done that."
"So it was easy to conceive of these articles of impeachment, but it wasn't easy to write them," he said. "They are watertight."
President Donald Trump ordered the Defense Department to begin using the name Department of War last year, The Associated Press reported. Under the law, only Congress can formally rename a federal department.
"Over there, they're living a little fantasy. They call it the Department of War," Massie said. "You know, you can't rename things without Congress."
"You think you can rename the Department of Defense the Department of War? Give me a break," he said. "But enjoy your little fantasy. It's the Department of Defense."
"Nobody's attacked the substance, and nobody has come to the rescue of the secretary of defense," Massie said. "I don't even see the online brigade of paid media grifters who typically rally for MAGA and the president while they're collecting their checks. I just don't see it happening."
Attorney General Todd Blanche had defended Hegseth a day earlier, according to CNN.
Blanche told reporters at a White House Rose Garden briefing that the secretary "follows the law," and praised his job performance.
Johnson said the House would take up Massie's resolution when members return following the midterm elections, and that it would "immediately be tabled," according to CNN. A motion to table sets a measure aside without debate.
