Accusing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” a group of Democratic representatives filed articles of impeachment against him Wednesday.
In a press release, Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), who introduced the resolution, said:
Pete Hegseth broke his oath to the Constitution, put U.S. troops at grave risk through the unauthorized disclosure of classified information, engaged in abuse of office and conduct beneath the dignity of his office, and carried out unlawful military actions despite his obligation to refuse — including strikes on civilians and a girls’ school in Minab, Iran. Hegseth’s conduct meets the threshold of high crimes and misdemeanors and warrants immediate removal by Congress.
Article of Faithlessness
The resolution consists of six articles, five of which are quite reasonable.
Article I charges Hegseth with having “willfully participated in and directed” the U.S. war in Iran “in direct contravention of Article I of the Constitution, which vests in the Congress the sole power to declare war, and the War Powers Resolution.” Of this there can be no doubt.
The article also accuses Hegseth of having endangered U.S. service members when he “authorized, supported, and advanced military operations lacking defined objectives, lawful authorization, or clear strategic necessity” and “endorsed and facilitated plans involving … potential ground operations within Iran.”
Lest the backers of the resolution be accused of siding with Tehran (Ansari, a first-generation Iranian-American, is particularly susceptible to such criticism), Article I denounces Iran’s ruling class as “a brutal regime that terrorizes its own people.” But there are dozens of brutal regimes around the globe, and it is not the job of the U.S. government to “go abroad in search of monsters to destroy,” as John Quincy Adams famously put it.
Geneva Contraventions?
Article II takes aim at Hegseth’s alleged “violations of the law of armed conflict” in both Iran and the Caribbean. The secretary, it says, has overseen “operations resulting in large numbers of civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Iran.” It specifically cites the strike on the girls’ school that killed at least 175 people, most of them children. The U.S., along with Israel, has also attacked residential neighborhoods, in one case obliterating a synagogue during Passover. In addition, the United States destroyed Iran’s largest bridge, killing eight and wounding 95. President Donald Trump has threatened much worse, including the wiping out of Iran’s “entire civilization.” Hegseth himself has vowed to give “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies,” which Article II alleges is “an unlawful command” that may violate “the Geneva Conventions and other binding legal obligations on the United States.”
As to the Caribbean, the resolution points to the infamous “double-tap” strikes against boats allegedly transporting illegal drugs to the United States. The strikes not only killed many of those on board the boats, but also finished off any survivors.
Signal Boost
Article III says Hegseth
has demonstrated gross negligence in the handling of sensitive and classified military information, including through the use of unsecured communications systems like the Signal app to transmit or discuss operational details in flagrant contravention of United States law and military standards.
Last March, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg learned about U.S. plans to bomb targets in Yemen two hours before the bombs fell because he had been inadvertently included in a Signal group chat discussing the plans that also included Hegseth and other U.S. officials. Another Hegseth Signal chat on the same subject reportedly “included his wife, his brother and his personal lawyer,” according to ABC News.
Article IV of the impeachment resolution claims Hegseth has withheld “material facts” regarding various military operations from Congress and otherwise “interfer[ed] with the ability of Congress to exercise its constitutional responsibilities.”
Article V accuses Hegseth of “using his position to influence military decisions for improper political purposes.” In particular, it chastises him for “targeting and launching bogus investigations against specific elected officials for the express purpose of political retribution.” That is presumably a reference to his investigation of Senator Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), including an attempt to reduce the former naval officer’s retirement pay, after Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers released a video urging service members not to obey “illegal orders” — which, as it happens, is simply a restatement of a provision in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (The Justice Department ultimately dropped its own case against the lawmakers after a grand jury refused to indict them.)
Out of Left Field
So far, so good.
Then comes Article VI, which condemns Hegseth for a litany of offenses against DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) and LGBT. There went any hopes for attracting a few principled Republicans as cosponsors, not to mention any sense that Ansari and company’s alleged concern for national security should be taken seriously. (In her statement, Ansari touted her own “oath to uphold the Constitution,” but her Freedom Index score that can be counted on the fingers of one hand proves how little she cares for that vow.)
As for the Pentagon’s opinion of the resolution, which is virtually certain to fail, press secretary Kingsley Wilson told Fox News:
This is just another Democrat trying to make headlines as the Department of War decisively and overwhelmingly achieved the Presidents’ [sic] objectives in Iran. Secretary Hegseth will continue to protect the homeland and project peace through strength. 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.
