Massie Plans to Trigger House Vote to Impeach Hegseth Next Week, Per CNN

The Vote Is Coming Next Week

Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky plans to trigger a vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth when Congress returns next week, according to CNN.

Massie filed eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth in September. A privileged resolution would force the full House to take up the question rather than leaving them in committee.

Multiple Republican sources have told CNN they expect the vote to pass, which would make Hegseth the first cabinet secretary impeached in the new Congress, days after Democrats took control of both chambers in the midterms.

A Pentagon Already Under Pressure

The impeachment push arrives alongside separate reporting that President Trump is weighing Hegseth's future and polling advisers on replacing him, per CBS.

Hegseth has run the Pentagon through the Iran war, now in its ninth month since US and Israeli strikes began on February 28, 2026. Massie's articles, filed in September, targeted his conduct of that war and his running of the department.

An impeachment vote does not remove Hegseth on its own; the Senate would hold a trial. But a House majority voting to impeach the sitting Secretary of Defense mid-war would deepen the leadership uncertainty around the department either way.

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Options and Market Impact

Defense primes trade on Pentagon stability and program continuity. Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics are the names traders watch when leadership at the department is in question.

A change at the top of the Pentagon rarely reprices long-cycle defense contracts overnight, but it does raise headline volatility around program reviews, foreign military sales approvals and budget negotiations with a newly Democratic Congress.

Watch for flow around the vote itself next week: these names usually move as a group on war and Pentagon headlines, and the sector has already been whipsawed by this week's broader selloff.

Bottom Line

Per CNN, Massie will force an impeachment vote on Hegseth when the House returns, and Republican sources expect it to pass. Combined with reporting that Trump is separately weighing Hegseth's future, the Pentagon's leadership is now an open question heading into next week.

Track the flow as the story develops, and sign up for Unusual Whales to follow market tide, options flow and GEX in real time.