Massie Says He Kept GOP Leaders in the Dark About His Resolution to Impeach Hegseth — Suggests They Might Have Shut Down the House to Stop Him

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) suggested to CNN on Tuesday that Republican leaders might have shut down the House for the week had they known in advance that he planned to move to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth on the House floor earlier Tuesday, accusing the Pentagon chief of “high crimes and misdemeanors” over his handling of U.S. military operations in Iran, Venezuela, and Yemen, among other actions. Because the Kentucky congressman introduced the measure as a privileged resolution, the House must take it up within two legislative days, though Republican leaders could move to table the measure.

A CNN reporter on Capitol Hill asked Massie, “Did you give leadership a heads-up?”

“I didn’t give anybody a heads-up, because when they found out I was doing the Epstein discharge petition, they canceled two weeks of Congress,” he explained. “I think if they found out I was gonna do this, they might have canceled even more days.”

Massie was referring to his effort last year with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to force a House vote requiring the Justice Department to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Amid the fight over the records, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent lawmakers home early for their August recess in July 2025, before Massie formally filed a discharge petition upon their return in September.

Of the allegations against Hegseth, though, Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters at a Tuesday presser, “Secretary Hegseth is doing a phenomenal job. The Secretary of War doesn’t just go off and do things, so he follows the law… You called it a ‘war.’ I disagree with that characterization, as does most of Congress.”

In May, Massie lost his bid for reelection to President Donald Trump-endorsed Ed Gallrein.

Watch above on CNN.

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