Rep. John Larson of Connecticut renewed his call for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s impeachment, accusing him of endangering American troops by mishandling classified information, using the Pentagon against Trump’s political opponents, and carrying out an unauthorized war against Iran.
“Pete Hegseth has put our troops at risk by leaking classified information,” Larson wrote on X. “He weaponized the Pentagon to go after Trump’s political opponents. He’s carrying out an illegal war in Iran. He has failed his oath. Secretary Hegseth needs to be impeached.”
Larson was among the original cosponsors of formal articles of impeachment against Hegseth, H.Res. 1177, filed by Rep. Yassamin Ansari on April 15 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it has seen no further action. The resolution contains six articles, accusing Hegseth of waging unauthorized war against Iran and recklessly endangering U.S. service members, violating the law of armed conflict through the targeting of civilians, negligent handling of classified military information, obstructing congressional oversight, abuse of power and politicization of the armed forces, and conduct bringing disrepute on the country and its military.
Ansari cited a U.S. strike on a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, as central to the impeachment effort at the time of filing. “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,” Ansari said in her office’s official announcement. “Hegseth’s conduct meets the threshold of high crimes and misdemeanors and warrants immediate removal by Congress.”
Larson connected the filing to his own prior warnings about Hegseth’s conduct. “As Donald Trump becomes more and more unhinged, Pete Hegseth continues to carry out his erratic, unlawful, and dangerous edicts, in direct violation of the United States Constitution and international law,” Larson said in his own press release announcing the filing, noting he had separately filed 13 articles of impeachment against Trump himself. Larson had called for Hegseth’s resignation as early as December, after reports that he ordered a second strike on survivors of an initial U.S. attack on a vessel in the Caribbean Sea.
The “illegal war” claim in Larson’s post rests on the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which limits a president’s ability to keep U.S. forces engaged in hostilities without specific congressional authorization to 60 days, with a possible 30-day extension for withdrawal, for a maximum of 90 days. Critics of the administration, including Rep. Thomas Massie, have argued the war has exceeded that legal window by treating the pre- and post-ceasefire phases of the conflict as separate wars rather than one continuous one.
The “leaking classified information” reference relates to what has become known as the Signal chat controversy, in which Hegseth shared sensitive military operational details, including strike timing for Yemen operations, in a Signal messaging chain that inadvertently included a journalist, an episode that prompted a Pentagon inspector general review.
The Pentagon’s own casualty reporting has drawn separate scrutiny in recent days after its public death toll for the Iran war dropped from 18 to 14 in the span of a day, an anomaly Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell attributed to “data disruptions” while three military officials told The New York Times the change reflected an administration decision to exclude troops killed after the April ceasefire declaration.
No vote has been held on H.Res. 1177 since its introduction, and it remains before the House Judiciary Committee. Impeachment resolutions introduced by the minority party in a Republican-controlled House are exceedingly unlikely to advance to a floor vote absent a change in House control.
The Minab school strike Ansari cited has drawn separate scrutiny elsewhere. A New York Times report examining the incident found the U.S. strike may have caused significant civilian casualties, including children, at a school in the area, though the Pentagon has not issued a detailed public accounting of the incident.
Larson has represented Connecticut’s 1st Congressional District since 1999 and previously chaired the House Democratic Caucus.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon has issued a direct public response to Larson’s renewed call for impeachment.