WASHINGTON — Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Crescent Springs, who has less than four months left in office, wants lawmakers to remove Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The Kentucky Republican filed a resolution including eight articles of impeachment, claiming Hegseth has ignored congressional war powers resolutions related to the war with Iran and directed the unlawful use of deadly military force during boat strikes on suspected drug traffickers.  

“Secretary Hegseth abused the powers of his high office through the following means: one, executing an unlawful order to commence hostilities despite the absence of a declaration of war,” Massie said on the House floor Tuesday.  

Massie said Speaker Mike Johnson ended the House’s work week a day early to avoid taking up the impeachment resolution until after the midterm elections.

“He’s somehow decided, he’s calculated, it’s better to let it hang out there over the recess than to dispense with it,” said Massie. “This war is not going to get more popular; it’s going to get less popular in the next eight weeks.”

Johnson dismissed Massie’s push and said he sent lawmakers home early because “the House has done its work.”

“It’s a stunt,” said Johnson. “Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job, the Department of War. We’re in the middle of international conflicts right now, and we should not be playing games with national security.”

Massie’s impeachment resolution was not the first time he directly challenged the Trump administration.

Last year, he helped lead the bipartisan effort forcing the administration to release millions of documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The president subsequently backed a primary challenger to Massie, Ed Gallrein, who defeated Massie earlier this year.

Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein.

The Pentagon brushed aside the impeachment resolution, and in a statement Wednesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson told Spectrum News:

“Secretary Hegseth has slashed bureaucracy, unleashed innovation, and delivered for our warfighters every step of the way. By every measurable metric, the Department of War is better under President Trump and Secretary Hegseth’s leadership than before.”