Arkansas Republican Rep. French Hill declined on Sunday to exclude the possibility of voting for Pete Hegseth’s impeachment as Secretary of War. This comes after Hill barely won his seventh House term by just 4,400 votes. He told CBS News he wants to hear the full debate before deciding on any action.
Hill, 69, answered “no” when asked if he was “satisfied with how the war has been handled.” He added that the commander in chief must take responsibility for the war strategy. However, he insisted that no one in America wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
On Sunday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stated he is a “hard yes” regarding the impeachment of the troubled secretary. Jeffries told ABC’s “This Week” that the official has abused his power and undermined national security, according to the New York Post. He claimed the secretary engineered a “reckless and costly war of choice in Iran.”
By Tuesday, Democrats had secured control of both congressional chambers, altering the political terrain. GOP leaders in the House now anticipate sufficient defections to enact the impeachment resolution. Axios reported that these defections will likely come from members who lost their seats.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a former adversary of Fox News who failed in his primary, crafted the resolution. Once the House reconvenes, Massie has pledged to compel a vote on eight impeachment articles. He filed these articles in September, but Speaker Mike Johnson sent members home early.
Massie asserts that a discharge petition for his Epstein Files Transparency Act II will secure 218 signatures. This legislation would let state attorneys general and survivors sue the attorney general for document disclosure. Negotiations for a government funding deal remain the top priority before the Dec. 11 shutdown deadline.
Inside the administration, opinion is divided on the issue. An unidentified Trump adviser told Axios that the secretary was “definitely on thin ice.” Yet President Trump has said otherwise regarding the potential removal of Hegseth.
Hegseth himself dismissed the articles as a “sham” in a video posted online Thursday. He called Massie a “disgruntled, defeated congressman” along with his Democrat allies.
At the War Department:
We Stand.
We Fight.
We Defend the Republic. https://t.co/Kkr0DazmCE— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) November 5, 2026
A vote on the resolution by the House is anticipated at some point this week. The Senate would need a two-thirds vote to remove Hegseth from office. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise instructed committee chairs to “begin preparing for House Democrats to control the committee gavels next Congress.” He warned they would use their power for “retribution and unleashing countless witch hunts.”
