Speaker Johnson sending House home early, staving off Hegseth impeachment vote over Iran war

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Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday announced he is sending members home from Washington early for their seven-week campaigning recess ahead of the midterm elections, a move that will stave off a vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth .

House Republicans had planned to remain in session until Thursday, but will now take their last votes Wednesday evening on a major White House priority — a Russia sanctions bill — and then leave town. The next time House lawmakers are expected back in Washington will be after the November elections.

“It’s time for our members to go home to their districts and make the case to the American people,” Johnson told reporters.

House GOP lawmakers were already eager to get out of town. They’d been in a dour mood, faced with growing political pressure to act on contentious issues like artificial intelligence and tariffs, all while anxiety rises over their ability to hold the chamber in the midterms.

Then came a new headache: One of their fellow Republicans, Rep. Thomas Massie, announced he would be forcing an unprecedented vote to impeach Hegseth over his handling of the US war with Iran. Because his resolution carries special procedural powers, it started a legislative clock that required GOP leaders to put it on the floor in the coming days.

But now, Republicans have found a way to stall that vote by leaving early and postponing it until November.

Asked if GOP leaders were canceling session to protect members from a politically difficult vote to impeach Hegseth, Johnson said the move had nothing to do with the defense secretary.

But Johnson attacked Massie for his surprise push.

“It is a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention. It will immediately be tabled of course. But we probably won’t do that today, we will do it when we come back,” Johnson said. “We should not be playing games with national security.”

In his 34-page resolution, Massie argued that Hegseth has repeatedly abused the powers of his office in leading the US war with Iran, including carrying out unlawful orders and continuing to keep troops deployed without authorization from Congress.

Hegseth, he argued, “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with his duties and the rule of law.” Massie spent multiple hours reading aloud his resolution on the House floor.

Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday defended Hegseth in light of the impeachment push, arguing that he “follows the law.”

“Secretary Hegseth is doing a phenomenal job, and the secretary of war doesn’t just go off and do things. So, he follows the law. And so the DOJ plays a role in that, and we play an active role in making sure the laws are complied with,” Blanche said while holding a press briefing in the White House Rose Garden.

The impeachment resolution touched on more than Iran. Massie also took aim at Hegseth for what he called the “kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader” in Venezuela, referring to the capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro. He accused the Pentagon of kidnapping the nation’s leader “under the guise of narcotics law enforcement, though in actuality intended to assert U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil reserves.”

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众议院议长迈克·约翰逊周三宣布，他将提前让议员们离开华盛顿，开始为期七周的中期选举竞选休会期。此举将阻止对国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯的弹劾投票。

众议院共和党人原计划开会至周四，但现在他们将在周三晚间就白宫的一项重要优先事项——俄罗斯制裁法案——进行最后一次投票，然后离开华盛顿。众议院议员下次返回华盛顿预计要等到11月大选之后了。

约翰逊告诉记者：“现在是我们的成员回到各自选区，向美国人民阐明立场的时候了。”

众议院共和党议员们早已迫不及待地想要离开华盛顿。他们情绪低落，面临着越来越大的政治压力，需要在人工智能和关税等争议性问题上采取行动，与此同时，他们也越来越担心能否在中期选举中保住众议院的控制权。

随后又出现了新的难题：他们的共和党同僚托马斯·马西众议员宣布，他将发起一场史无前例的弹劾投票，以指控赫格塞斯在处理美国对伊朗战争中失职。由于他的决议拥有特殊的程序性权力，它启动了一个立法程序，要求共和党领导人在未来几天内将其提交议会表决。

但现在，共和党人找到了拖延投票的方法，他们提前离场，将投票推迟到11月。

当被问及共和党领导人是否取消会议是为了保护成员们免受弹劾赫格塞斯这一政治上棘手的投票影响时，约翰逊表示，此举与国防部长无关。

但约翰逊抨击了马西出人意料的举动。

约翰逊说：“这是有人为了博取关注而搞的公关噱头。当然，我们会立即搁置此事。但我们今天可能不会这么做，等我们回来后再说。我们不应该拿国家安全开玩笑。”

马西在其长达 34 页的决议中辩称，赫格塞斯在领导美国对伊朗的战争中屡次滥用职权，包括执行非法命令和在未经国会授权的情况下继续部署军队。

他认为，赫格塞斯“已经证明，如果让他继续留任，他将继续对宪法构成威胁，而且他的行为严重违背了他的职责和法治。” 马西在众议院议事厅花了几个小时大声宣读他的决议。

周二，司法部长托德·布兰奇为赫格塞斯辩护，称他“遵守法律”，以此回应弹劾动议。

“赫格塞斯部长的工作非常出色，战争部长不会擅自行动。他会依法行事。司法部也参与其中，我们积极确保法律得到遵守，”布兰奇在白宫玫瑰园举行的新闻发布会上说道。

弹劾决议涉及的内容远不止伊朗。马西还抨击赫格塞斯，指责其在委内瑞拉“绑架了一位主权外国领导人”，指的是时任总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗被捕一事。他指责五角大楼以打击毒品犯罪为幌子绑架了委内瑞拉领导人，“实际上是为了巩固美国对委内瑞拉石油储备的控制权”。