House avoids impeachment vote on Hegseth as Speaker Johnson calls recess, pushing showdown past midterms

From the Newshound archive · first published 19 September 2026.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis has broken with his party to back Thomas Massie's impeachment resolution against Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, declaring 'he needs to go'. Speaker Mike Johnson shut the House down a day early on Wednesday, scrapping Thursday's scheduled floor vote and kicking the impeachment decision into the lame-duck session after the November midterms. Massie, whose articles of impeachment cite Hegseth's management of the US-Iran war, had forced a vote under House rules by introducing the resolution as privileged. Democrats and Massie publicly accused Johnson of cancelling Congress to protect Hegseth from a cross-party defeat.

Massie wrote on X: 'They're canceling Congress tomorrow to avoid the vote on IMPEACHING @SecWar — these people are incredible cowards.'

Johnson called the impeachment push 'a publicity stunt by someone who wants attention' and predicted it would be 'immediately' rejected in the lame duck.

The US military operation against Iran is approaching seven months with no negotiations or resolution, fuelling voter and lawmaker anger ahead of the midterms.