Democrats in the House of Representatives are planning to file five articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, on Wednesday.
The measure, which has virtually no chance of passing given the current Republican majority in the legislative chamber, is likely a symbolic move as the Trump administration’s unpopular war in Iran continues, and Americans’ views of Hegseth have soured over the past several months.
It may also indicate Democrats’ plans should they win control of Congress in the upcoming midterms.
The articles of impeachment are set to be introduced by Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Arizona), the first Iranian American Democrat elected to Congress. The articles accuse Hegseth of:
- Running an “unauthorized war against Iran and reckless endangerment of United States service members,” after failing to receive congressional approval for the conflict;
- Committing “violations of the Law of Armed Conflict and targeting of civilians” during the war, including the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab, as well as double-tap strikes on alleged drug boats near Venezuela;
- Engaging in negligent and reckless “handling of sensitive military information,” citing the “Signalgate” scandal in which Hegseth accidentally allowed a journalist to access secret discussions regarding strikes on Yemen;
- Obstructing oversight of his office by failing to “provide timely and complete information regarding military operations” to Congress;
- Engaging in “conduct bringing disrepute upon the United States and its armed forces,” including having “shaken public confidence in the integrity and ability” of the Department of Defense.
At least eight Democratic lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of the measure.
Ansari had announced her intent to bring the articles against Hegseth on April 6, emphasizing that the war in Iran had never received the congressional approval that is required by the U.S. Constitution, and that the administration appeared to engage in war crimes.
“Only Congress has the power to declare war, not a rogue president or his lackeys,” Ansari said. “Hegseth’s reckless endangerment of U.S. servicemembers and repeated war crimes, including bombing a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, and willfully targeting civilian infrastructure, are grounds for impeachment and removal from office.”
Ansari’s statement from earlier this month also called on members of Trump’s own cabinet and Republican lawmakers in Congress to view Trump’s more recent actions as dangerous, and to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.
As the daughter of Iranian immigrants who fled this regime, and as an American Congresswoman who swore an oath to the United States Constitution, I know that this cannot go on. The 25th Amendment exists for a reason; his Cabinet should use it. The fate of U.S. troops, the Iranian people, and the very foundation of our global system are at stake.
The White House reacted to news of the planned impeachment articles with indignation.
“This is just another charade in an attempt to distract the American people from the major successes we have had here at the Department of War [sic],” Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson said.
But public polling shows that Hegseth is deeply unpopular among the American people.
In a Quinnipiac University poll in March, only 37 percent of Americans said they approved of the job Hegseth was doing as Defense Secretary, while 52 percent said they disapproved.
That margin may have doubled as the Iran War waged on and Americans began to feel the economic impacts of the conflict, as a CNN poll from earlier this month shows that 35 percent approve of Hegseth’s job performance and 65 percent disapprove.
This article originally appeared on Truthout and was republished here under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.