Can a Secretary of Defense Be Impeached? What Removing Hegseth Takes

Yes. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution says the President, the Vice President and “all civil Officers of the United States” shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Cabinet secretaries are the clearest example of civil officers: they are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to run executive departments. Hegseth was confirmed as secretary of defense in January 2025 by a 51-50 Senate vote, with Vice President Vance breaking the tie. The administration also calls him secretary of war, a secondary title adopted in 2025, but the office and its constitutional status are the same.

Members of Congress are not civil officers in this sense. The House and Senate can expel their own members instead, which is why “can a senator be impeached” has a different answer.

It takes two steps in two chambers: the House charges and the Senate judges.

The House has “the sole Power of Impeachment” under Article I. Any member can introduce articles of impeachment, and a member can force the issue by offering them as a question of the privileges of the House. Under House rules, the leadership then has two legislative days to bring the resolution to the floor. The House can vote on the articles themselves, or vote to table them or refer them to a committee, which kills or shelves them without a vote on the merits. If a simple majority of members voting approves the articles, the official is impeached.

The Senate then holds a trial, with House members acting as prosecutors. Conviction on any article requires two-thirds of the senators present. A conviction removes the official from office at once. The Senate can also vote separately to bar the person from holding federal office again; in past cases it has treated that second vote as needing only a simple majority.

Impeachment is not a criminal case. The Senate cannot fine or jail anyone, though a removed official can still be prosecuted in the courts.

Twice, and neither was removed.

The first was William Belknap, President Ulysses S. Grant’s secretary of war. On March 2, 1876, the House voted unanimously to impeach him over payments he had taken in connection with a military trading post at Fort Sill, in what is now Oklahoma. Belknap resigned minutes before the vote. The Senate ruled that it kept jurisdiction over a former official and tried him anyway. On August 1, 1876, a majority of senators voted to convict on each of the five articles, but every vote fell short of two-thirds, and he was acquitted. Many senators who voted to acquit said they did so because he had already left office.

The second was Alejandro Mayorkas, President Joe Biden’s secretary of homeland security. The House impeached him on February 13, 2024 by 214 to 213, on two articles over his handling of the southern border, a week after a first attempt failed. On April 17, 2024 the Senate dismissed both articles without a trial, voting 51 to 48 and 51 to 49 that they did not describe high crimes and misdemeanors.

Not necessarily. Belknap’s case set the precedent that the Senate can still try an official who has resigned, because a conviction can carry a ban on future office. In practice, though, a resignation usually ends the effort, and that is the outcome Massie has invited: he said on November 4 that the one case in which he will not reintroduce his articles is if Hegseth resigns.

No. Impeachment and conviction is the only way Congress can force a cabinet secretary out of office.

The President can fire a cabinet secretary at any time and for any reason; the Supreme Court confirmed that power over executive officers in Myers v. United States in 1926. Congress can hold hearings, issue subpoenas, pass a censure resolution or cut a department’s budget, but none of those removes anyone. A censure is a statement of disapproval with no legal effect.

Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth in September 2026. They accuse him of violating the 1973 War Powers Resolution in the war with Iran, of acting illegally in military campaigns in Venezuela, Yemen, the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, of disregarding the protection of civilians in wartime, and of suppressing a U.S. senator’s free speech.

House Speaker Mike Johnson called the effort “a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention” and said it would be tabled. On September 16, 2026, Johnson sent the House home early for the campaign recess, which pushed any forced vote past the November 3 election. Massie, who lost his Republican primary in May 2026 to a challenger President Donald Trump endorsed, leaves Congress in January, so the lame-duck session is his last chance. He has said he expects to bring back “substantially the same eight articles.”

He is not the first to try. Rep. Shri Thanedar, a Michigan Democrat, introduced two articles of impeachment against Hegseth in December 2025; House leaders did not bring them up, and they did not advance.

The Pentagon’s chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said Hegseth “will not back down or be deterred by politicians seeking to score partisan points” and is “100% committed to leading the Department until the end of President Trump’s term in office.” Trump said on November 4 that Hegseth is “doing a very good job.” Hegseth has also reshaped the Pentagon’s senior ranks during the war, including the firing of the planner Brett Sylvia, which the Pentagon tied to classified leaks.

A majority of House members voting to impeach, then 67 senators to remove him if all 100 vote.

In the House, the first test may not be the articles at all but a motion to table them, which also needs only a simple majority. Massie has said he gives impeachment “better than a 50 percent chance of passing,” with Democrats expected to vote for it.

The Senate is the harder step. Republicans hold the majority in the current Senate, so a conviction would need a large number of senators from the President’s own party to vote against his defense secretary, something that has never happened to a cabinet officer. The current Congress ends on January 3, 2027, when the new one elected on November 3 is due to be sworn in; articles the House has not acted on by then expire with it.

The Constitution makes “all civil Officers of the United States,” including cabinet secretaries, subject to impeachment. The House impeaches by a simple majority of members voting. The Senate convicts by two-thirds of the senators present, which is 67 if all 100 vote. Only two cabinet secretaries have been impeached: William Belknap on March 2, 1876, and Alejandro Mayorkas on February 13, 2024. Neither was removed; the Senate acquitted Belknap on August 1, 1876, and dismissed the Mayorkas articles on April 17, 2024. Only the President can fire a cabinet secretary outright. Rep. Thomas Massie’s eight articles against Pete Hegseth are expected to come to the House floor in the lame-duck session after the November 3, 2026 midterms.