The midterm elections are coming this November, but Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called for an early recess for the House of Representatives. Johnson canceled planned votes for Thursday, sent lawmakers home Wednesday evening, and stated that the House “has done its work.”
The House Speaker claimed he wanted members to go back to their home districts and spend time with voters. Johnson’s decision was quickly met with criticism, with many citing that he stopped the session early to avoid a difficult vote. The early break delayed a fast-tracked resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
It was just days ago that Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky moved to impeach Hegseth over the war in Iran. Massie, a longtime critic of the Trump administration, read the articles of impeachment aloud from the House floor just after the chamber convened at noon, alleging that Hegseth waged the Iran war unlawfully, among other conduct he described as “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Massie’s resolution accuses Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution by continuing hostilities without congressional authorization, disregarding laws intended to limit civilian casualties, and several other claims tied to military operations abroad.
Those allegations have not been adjudicated, and the Trump administration has defended both Hegseth and the Iran campaign, maintaining that the operation is lawful under the president’s authority as commander in chief and necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said in a statement that “the entire Department is unified behind the Secretary’s vision and will continue working to put our warfighters and America first.”
The Iran war isn’t the only source of controversy Hegseth has faced since taking over the Department of Defense. This past spring, Hegseth blocked the military promotion of six officers, all of whom were women or Black men, to become one-star generals.
Long before his appointment as Defense Secretary, Hegseth had called the U.S. military “woke” and suggested that Black and female generals had not earned their rank. Since then, the administration has moved forward with firings that included the head of the Joint Chiefs, who is Black, and the only female four-star admiral in the military, neither of which came with a public explanation.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who voted to confirm Hegseth, is now calling for President Trump to fire the Pentagon chief following former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll‘s resignation. “He needs to go, whether it’s impeachment or the most expedient route; just the president to replace him would be great,” Tillis told reporters Thursday.
With the House now on recess, an impeachment vote won’t happen until after the midterm elections.
