House leaves Washington, delaying Hegseth impeachment vote

House members are leaving Washington until after the November midterm elections, delaying a vote on Rep. Thomas Massie’s bid to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after Republican leaders canceled votes planned for Thursday.

The schedule change means the House will not act before Election Day on Massie’s privileged resolution, which he filed Tuesday and which would normally require action within two legislative days. The House is slated to return Nov. 9. The Senate will remain in session for the next three weeks.

Republican leaders said the decision to cancel Thursday votes had nothing to do with Massie’s impeachment effort. But the move spared House Republicans from a difficult vote on Hegseth, whose leadership has drawn unease among some vulnerable GOP members during the unpopular six-month war with Iran.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., dismissed the impeachment push Wednesday and defended Hegseth.

“It’s a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention. It will immediately be tabled, of course…. We’ll probably do it when we come back, but it’s a stunt,” Johnson told reporters. Tabling the resolution would effectively kill it. “Secretary Hegseth has done an extraordinary job, the Department of War. We’re in the middle of international conflicts right now, and we should not be playing games with national security.”

Johnson, who is trying to preserve a narrow Republican majority, said members needed to return home and campaign.

“It’s time for our members to go home to their districts and make their case to the American people, to go and explain all the great things we’ve done,” Johnson said, citing what he described as “the largest middle- and working-class tax cut in U.S. history” and a violent crime rate “at a 126-year low.” He called it “an extraordinary record of achievement.”

Massie, R-Ky., accused GOP leaders of shutting down the House early to avoid the vote.

“And there it is. Just as I predicted,” Massie wrote Wednesday on social media. “They’re canceling Congress tomorrow to avoid the vote on IMPEACHING @SecWar.”

Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, accusing him of conducting an illegal war against Iran and other alleged offenses, Talking Points Memo reported. He did not give House GOP leaders advance notice, saying he feared they would try to stop him from introducing the privileged resolution.

On the House floor Tuesday, Massie said Hegseth “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.”

Several Democrats echoed Massie’s accusation that Johnson sent lawmakers home to block the vote. Rep. Mike Levin, D-Calif., wrote that “we have the votes to impeach Pete Hegseth tomorrow” and said Johnson knew it. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said the cancellation showed “the cowardice of the Republican Party,” arguing the resolution could pass with bipartisan support.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said Johnson did not want votes on “stopping the war, releasing more of the Epstein files, or impeaching Pete Hegseth.” Rep. Pat Ryan, D-N.Y., called GOP leaders “cowards” and described the cancellation as “yet another pathetic dereliction of duty.”

Massie has repeatedly clashed with GOP leaders, President Donald Trump and Hegseth over the Iran war. He voted for multiple Iran war powers resolutions seeking to restrict Trump’s military operations in Iran and Venezuela. NBC News reported that Trump’s political team recruited former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein to challenge Massie in the Kentucky Republican primary and that Hegseth campaigned for Gallrein one day before the May primary election, which Massie lost.