House Democrat teases articles of impeachment against Hegseth over 'Signalgate,' missile strikes

Michigan Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar on Thursday said he will file two articles of impeachment against War Secretary Pete Hegseth over missile strikes on drug boats in the Caribbean and his use of Signal to share plans for a strike on the Houthis in Yemen.

A Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General report that was publicly released Thursday found that Hegseth violated department policy by using his personal phone for official business. 

Hegseth has also faced backlash over confusion on who ordered troops to conduct two strikes in September on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean. The secretary has pushed back on the claims that war crimes were committed in the strike.

Thanedar said he was filing the articles of impeachment because "every day it becomes clearer that he is engaging in unlawful, illegal activity." The charges are murder, conspiracy for murder, and unlawful mishandling of classified information. 

“If Republicans are willing to look at this for the merit of this case and not just their loyalty to President Trump, this can be done,” Thanedar told Fox News. “Republicans need to look at this as laws that have been broken. War crimes have been committed. And Hegseth — the secretary is refusing to show up.”

Although the articles have been filed, they are not expected to go anywhere because the Republican-led House would need to vote to impeach the secretary, and the Republican-led Senate would need to vote to convict and remove him from office. 

Pentagon press secretary Kinglsey Wilson claimed the articles of impeachment were “another charade in an attempt to distract the American people from the major successes we have had” at DOD, according to The Hill. 

The Democrat previously filed seven articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, which accused the president of posing a "clear and present danger" to democracy. He later abandoned the impeachment attempt over backlash from his party.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.