The House Moves To Impeach Hegseth. He Could Become The Trump Administration And GOP's 'Fall Guy'.

Following Tuesday's Democratic landslide in the midterm elections, the House will likely vote on impeaching Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth next week on the basis of Hegseth allegedly continuing the U.S. war with Iran in defiance of Congress.

Republican Thomas Massie, an outgoing Republican representative from Kentucky who has very publicly broken with the administration of President Donald Trump over its decision to go to war with Iran, is expected to force the vote.

Although the current lame-duck House will remain in Republican hands until January 2027, House Republican leaders reportedly expect the impeachment vote to pass with a simple majority as they anticipate that numerous GOP lawmakers will cross party lines to vote against Hegseth, Axios reported on Sunday.

Hegseth has become an increasingly unpopular figure on both sides of the aisle. Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become the Speaker of the House in January, said on Sunday that he was a "hard yes on the Hegseth resolution," accusing the high-ranking Trump administration official of having "abused his power, undermined our national security and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran."

"My primary concern with Secretary Hegseth is that he's fired or redlined 80 general officers and admirals, and for no explanation. He says it's his right to do it, maybe it's his constitutional right but it's not morally right," outgoing Republican Representative for Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District told FOX News on Saturday, adding that he was "weighing" up whether or not to vote to impeach Hegseth next week.

In private, other Republicans have also been scathing, with one GOP lawmaker telling Axios that Hegseth had been "very damaging to our ability to get the facts out to the American people on why the strikes targeting Iran's nuclear facilities ... were necessary."

Axios reporters also speculated on Thursday that there was a growing sense within the White House that, following the midterm results, the person who has "gotta take the fall" for the electoral drubbing will be Hegseth.

One Trump advisor told the outlet that "Hegseth is definitely on thin ice."

Nevertheless, the president has thus far stuck by his defense secretary in public, reposting a video of Hegseth defending himself to his Truth Social account on Saturday.

If the impeachment vote passes the House the impeachment articles are sent to the Senate for trial. In the Upper House, a two-thirds supermajority of 67 Senators is needed to impeach a cabinet official.

Despite Democrat gains in the Senate, a successful impeachment vote is unlikely.

Even if Democrats won the remaining two Senate races still to be called in Alaska and Mississippi and thus gained a 56-44 majority, significant numbers of Republican Senators would have to cross the aisle for Hegseth to be removed.