President Trump said he would stand by Secretary Pete Hegseth even if he is impeached, after Rep. Thomas Massie introduced articles of impeachment against the defense secretary on the House floor Monday afternoon.

President Donald Trump said Monday afternoon that he would stand by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth even if Hegseth is impeached, during an impromptu briefing with reporters at the White House. The statement came the same day Republican Rep. Thomas Massie introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth on the House floor.

Massie read aloud all eight articles of impeachment he filed against Hegseth, speaking for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The charges include illegally waging war against Iran in violation of the War Powers Resolution, according to the resolution filed.

Defending his secretary, Trump questioned the allegations: "But really, what has Hegseth done?" Speaking to reporters, the president said, "He won two wars. He was in charge. We all won. I had great people."

Massie told reporters that the executive branch "didn't meet the requirements to take action without Congress" regarding the Iran war. "Like there's no argument here. If this were in a courtroom, we wouldn't need witnesses. We wouldn't need to provide evidence," he said.

Because impeachment is a privileged matter, the House must take up the measure within two legislative days, forcing Republicans to go on the record after suffering major losses in the 2026 midterm elections. Calls to impeach Hegseth have grown as several Republicans have attributed the GOP's sweeping midterm losses to the Iran war.

It is unclear whether the effort will succeed in the House, which remains under Republican control until Jan. 3. Massie needs a simple majority for the resolution to pass, meaning just three Republicans would need to vote with all Democrats. The lawmaker said he is confident there will be enough GOP defectors for it to pass.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries came out in support of impeaching Hegseth, saying he is a "hard yes." Massie said impeachment will only be messier if the matter waits until Democrats control Congress in January, and he predicted a "robust trial over in the Senate." GOP leaders could offer a motion to "table" the resolution rather than take a direct vote on the underlying measure, which would also need to pass by a simple majority.

Even if the measure passes in the House, it would still need approval by a two-thirds majority in the GOP-controlled Senate, a lofty threshold that is unlikely to be met.

Hegseth said earlier Monday that he is "not worried about" the efforts to impeach him over his controversial leadership at the Pentagon and his role administering the Iran war, announcing a rare press conference on the topic set for Tuesday. "We're not worried about that," Hegseth said when asked about Republican support on Capitol Hill. "We're going to do a press conference tomorrow morning at the Pentagon on that very topic. So I'll save my remarks there. I hope you all come loaded for bear with your questions," he said. He has not held a press conference since May.

Massie offered a prebuttal to that press conference, saying he hopes the Pentagon chief addresses the articles: "Tell us why you are not guilty of each of these eight articles of impeachment." Massie attempted to introduce articles of impeachment in mid-September only to be thwarted by Speaker Mike Johnson, who canceled the final scheduled day of legislative business before the midterm elections. Massie, a conservative who has gained a reputation as a constitutionalist through his seven terms in the House, lost a primary earlier this summer after Trump endorsed his opponent.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer declined to back the Hegseth impeachment effort, but Massie volunteered that "there's a lot of questions about" Hegseth, including the secretary's strategy in Iran. Retiring Republican Rep. Don Bacon said he will "weigh the debate and make a decision" on his vote and that he does think the secretary has made "some bad mistakes." Trump has maintained that he has "every intention to keep" Hegseth atop the Pentagon. In a video posted Thursday, Hegseth proclaimed that he will not back down and drew a parallel between the articles against him and those filed twice against Trump.

White House; U.S. House of Representatives; Rep. Thomas Massie; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries; House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer; Rep. Don Bacon; Speaker Mike Johnson