On Monday, the United States Congress took its first formal step toward an impeachment of US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. The resolution was introduced by Republican Representative Thomas Massie and has the backing of House Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries.
The document presented by Massie, a critic of the current administration, lists eight accusations of the head of the Pentagon. Among the main allegations are military operations executed without proper legislative authorization, most notably the military intervention in Venezuela that culmin,ated in the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, the unprovoked war against Iran, the bombing campaign against Yemen, and attacks on small boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Massie’s account: “kidnapping of a foreign sovereign leader’
In the 34-page resolution, Massie include a chapter titled “Kidnapping of a Foreign Sovereign Leader” to refer to the US military attack on Venezuela on January 3, 2026 that culminated in the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Deputy Cilia Flores, in Caracas, which constituted “an unauthorized act of war and an illegal kidnapping.”
In the US imperialist action, more than 100 peolple were killed, including 32 Cuban nationals and 47 Venezuelan soldiers who were part of President Maduro’s security detail.
Massie said in his remarks that the Secretary of War “has shown he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner wholly inconsistent with his duties.” He argued that Hegseth violated legal limits by carrying out a maneuver whose real objectives, according to Massie’s filing, were “linked to control of Venezuela’s oil reserves.”
The congressman additionally blamed Hegseth for the human toll of the military aggression in Venezuela, reproaching him for the harm suffered by United States personnel, formally recorded by the Pentagon as casualties, because seven service members were wounded in the incursion, according to US data.
On the legality of other operations ordered by the so-called “secretary of war,” Massie said that “by undertaking hostilities in Iran for more than 90 days without authorization from Congress, Secretary Hegseth is breaking the law and must be held accountable.”
He also criticized Hegseth’s authorized actions against Yemen and the bombings of alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, while accusing the official of abuse of power and intimidation of critics of the government.
For his part, Pete Hegseth downplayed the parliamentary initiative and labeled it “political noise.”
“If we want to debate the military actions the Trump administration has carried out, I will be happy to do so all day,” he said Monday, firmly defending the “legality and purpose” of US imperialist actions against Iran, Yemen, and Venezuela.
Republicans block impeachment attempt
The Republican majority in the United States House of Representatives used its political weight to block the impeachment initiative against Hegseth. By a narrow margin of 211 votes in favor and 204 against, the full chamber approved referring the resolution to a parliamentary committee, a mechanism that in practice would allow the Republicans to maneuver to postpone it, at least until January 3 when the term of the new Congress begins.
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With this procedural maneuver, the ruling caucus preserves, for now, control of the Pentagon by neutralizing debate over military actions abroad. The voting reaffirms the endurance of the Republican majority before the change in the legislative period, stalling, for the moment, efforts of the opposition and dissident Republican sectors to subject the conduct of the Department of War to judicial and political oversight.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
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Little behind the curve on this one.
