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Calls for self-styled<\/span> War Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s ouster have grown louder on Capitol Hill as a possible impeachment vote looms this week. At the same time, Hegseth has shored up support at the White House and among MAGA faithful, according to dismayed Pentagon officials.<\/p>\n Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced<\/a> articles of impeachment on the House floor Monday afternoon, charging Hegseth with \u201chigh crimes and misdemeanors.\u201d Top Democrats have indicated a desire to join Massie\u2019s effort<\/a> since their midterm election landslide<\/a>. \u201cI am a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,\u201d Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who is poised to be the next House speaker, told<\/a> ABC\u2019s \u201cThis Week\u201d on Sunday.\u00a0Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the current House Oversight Committee chair, told Newsmax on Friday it is \u201cvery possible\u201d the votes exist to impeach Hegseth.<\/p>\n Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., one of the leading voices for Hegseth\u2019s impeachment, agreed. \u201cI think there\u2019s a high chance that it will be successful,\u201d she told The Intercept of Massie\u2019s effort. In April, Ansari filed six articles of impeachment<\/a> against Hegseth, including violations of the law of armed conflict and targeting of civilians, abuse of power, and obstructing congressional oversight. She called for a floor vote<\/a> on his ouster this week.<\/p>\n \u201cHegseth has demonstrated that he is wholly incompetent. He\u2019s committed what I believe to be war crimes in Iran and the Caribbean and he is ill-equipped for the job,\u201d said Ansari. \u201cMy reason for introducing the articles of impeachment back in April had a lot to do with his conduct and the war crimes in Iran, including the bombing of the children\u2019s school. But it\u2019s refreshing to see that since then, more and more Republicans are also recognizing that his leadership has failed and that he\u2019s putting all of us in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the wake of a devastating election rout<\/a> of the GOP that handed Democrats firm control of the House and the Senate,\u00a0Congress begins a five-week lame-duck session on Monday.\u00a0With dozens of Republican lawmakers ending their tenure in the House, it\u2019s unclear how many will even show up for votes. Such absences, as well as outright defections in the GOP ranks, make it increasingly likely that Massie\u2019s measure will pass, staffers on Capitol Hill told The Intercept.<\/p>\n On Sunday, GOP Rep. French Hill of Arkansas left open the possibility of backing the measure. \u201cI want to hear the debate on it to see if it merits impeachment versus some other disciplinary action or action by the president,\u201d he said<\/a> on CBS News\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation.\u201d Outgoing House speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not answer when asked by Politico if GOP leaders would whip<\/a> the Hegseth impeachment vote. House leaders must take up the matter within two legislative days; opponents could table the resolution or refer it to committee instead of voting directly on impeachment.<\/p>\n After narrowly being confirmed by the Senate, which required Vice President JD Vance to break a 50-50 tie,\u00a0Hegseth\u2019s tenure has been marked by fiascos and failures beginning with Signal-gate<\/a>, the sharing of secret war plans in a chat group with a journalist. In that case, according to the Pentagon\u2019s own inspector general, \u201cHegseth violated security protocols and endangered U.S. troops and objectives.\u201d\u00a0Since then, Hegseth has been under perpetual fire for the unsuccessful Iran war in 2026, specifically a strike on an elementary school<\/a> in Minab, Iran, that killed more than 150 civilians, most of them children<\/a>, He faces pressure over his campaign of extrajudicial killings<\/a> in attacks on so-called drug boats in the waters off Latin America. And questions continue to mount about his purge of top military leaders<\/a> \u2014 many of them women<\/a> and minorities<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that many career officials from the department have left citing his leadership, I think, is very telling,\u201d said Ansari. Last week, The Intercept published<\/a> an expos\u00e9 quoting six current and former defense officials who currently serve or served under Hegseth and called for his ouster. \u201cHe is conducting state terrorism. He is 100 percent a war criminal. He needs to be prosecuted,\u201d said Wes J. Bryant, one of those officials and, until last year, a senior targeting adviser and policy analyst at the Pentagon who was pushed out of his job for blowing the whistle on Hegseth\u2019s efforts to undermine protections for civilians<\/a>.<\/p>\n As calls for his ouster have grown louder, Hegseth launched a desperate bid<\/a> to whip up support at the White House, including a nakedly obsequious video seeking Trump\u2019s support that he posted on X<\/a>. It was accompanied by a coordinated campaign of social media posts by Pentagon underlings tying Hegseth\u2019s fortunes to the president with the text \u201cSTAND. FIGHT. DEFEND THE REPUBLIC<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Hegseth\u2019s hand was strengthened on Friday when Trump\u2019s chief of staff Susie Wiles stepped down and was replaced by his hard-line<\/a> domestic policy adviser, raging xenophobe, and illegal boat strike proponent Stephen Miller, according to two Pentagon officials. The embattled war chief was quick to offer \u201cHuge CONGRATS<\/a>\u201d to Miller on X, and posted a photo<\/a> of himself alongside Trump\u2019s new consigliere. The same coterie of Hegseth devotees<\/a> at the Pentagon followed<\/a> with similar posts featuring Miller<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wiles had reportedly soured on Hegseth, blaming his woeful management of the Iran war for flagging Republican fortunes. A senior Trump administration official also told MS Now<\/a> that Miller and Hegseth \u201chave been extremely close since the beginning of the administration.\u201d<\/p>\n If the House impeaches Hegseth, removing him from office would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate \u2014 a high bar, even when Democrats take control of the chamber in January. Neither of the two Cabinet secretaries impeached by the House \u2014 William Belknap, the secretary of war, in 1876; and Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, in 2024 \u2014 were convicted by the Senate. <\/p>\n An Armed Services Committee staffer who spoke with The Intercept was skeptical that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would bring the measure to a vote. Ansari held out hope. \u201cThune is very much aligned in terms of his view that Hegseth is not fit for the job,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cI do think that the resounding victories on Tuesday night will impact the way Republicans operate moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is retiring at the end of the year, has said for months that he regrets his vote to confirm Hegseth and rebuked the war chief for his desperate video address aimed at Trump. \u201c[C]abinet secretaries shouldn\u2019t be wasting taxpayer dollars on campaign style videos. Kristi Noem learned that the hard way,\u201d he wrote<\/a> on X on Friday, also laying into Hegseth for \u201cthe incompetence you\u2019ve displayed, the bad advice you\u2019ve given to president, and your shameful and embarrassing episodes from firing our top generals to texting war plans to reporters.\u201d Tillis had also previously said Hegseth \u201cneeds to go<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Massie suggested his impeachment resolution is the legislative equivalent of a mercy killing, calling it \u201ca much gentler version<\/a>\u201d of what Democrats will do when they take control of Congress in January. Congressional committees have broad investigative powers, and Ansari said that if Hegseth survives this year\u2019s impeachment push, there were \u201cmany ways\u201d for Democrats to hold him accountable in the next session, specifically compelling him to testify before the American people. \u201cI would be surprised to see him last the next two years in this administration,\u201d she told The Intercept. \u201cI think that he is not only one of the most incompetent members of the administration, but also the most unpopular \u2014 and it\u2019s on a bipartisan basis. So the pressure will continue to grow for there to be some change at the Pentagon.\u201d<\/p>\n