Johnson Adjourns House Early, Preventing Vote on Hegseth Impeachment Articles, Massie Claims
Rep. Thomas Massie alleges the Speaker's decision to send lawmakers home was a strategic move to block his impeachment effort against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has adjourned the House of Representatives early, a move that Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., claims was orchestrated to prevent consideration of articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Under House rules, Massie's eight articles of impeachment were scheduled for consideration on the day following their filing. However, Johnson's decision to recess the House means it will not reconvene for business until after the mid-November elections, effectively halting any immediate vote on the impeachment articles.
Massie stated that if the impeachment articles had been brought to the floor, Republicans would likely have moved to table the motion. Such a vote would not have been on impeaching Hegseth directly, but rather on setting aside Massie's impeachment effort. According to Massie, a successful motion to table would have ended the impeachment proceedings without a direct vote on the merits of the charges against Hegseth.
Massie contends that Johnson's decision to adjourn was a deliberate strategy to avoid forcing lawmakers into a potentially difficult vote on tabling the impeachment articles. He believes that if the motion to table had failed, the House would have proceeded to vote on the actual impeachment resolutions, a scenario he suggests Speaker Johnson sought to prevent.
The early adjournment means the House will not reconvene for legislative business until after the midterm elections in mid-November, leaving Massie's impeachment effort in limbo.
