Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan, a member of the far-left, announced Thursday that he plans to file articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, marking the latest escalation in a coordinated Democratic campaign to target one of the Trump administration’s most prominent national security officials.
Thanedar made the announcement during an interview with Fox News host Josh Breslow, leveling sweeping accusations that immediately signaled how aggressively Democrats are prepared to pursue the issue.
“This secretary has to go,” Thanedar declared. “He’s incompetent. He’s, you know, violated — he has committed war crimes. He must go.” His accusations centered largely on Hegseth’s use of the encrypted messaging platform Signal to communicate with other senior administration officials about a pending strike on Houthi terrorists in Yemen.
A newly released report from the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General concluded that Hegseth violated department policy and potentially jeopardized U.S. forces by sharing sensitive operational information over the app.
According to the report, the Signal chat in question included Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and—through a contact-syncing mishap—Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg. Inspectors warned that if detailed strike plans had been intercepted, U.S. troops could have been exposed to heightened danger. Democrats were quick to seize on that assessment. Thanedar argued that Republicans should abandon their support for Hegseth and consider his impeachment solely on what he described as the “merit of this case.”
“Republicans need to look at this as laws that have been broken,” Thanedar insisted, claiming “war crimes have been committed” and accusing Hegseth of refusing to appear before lawmakers. His rhetoric reflects a growing push inside the Democratic Party to paint the administration’s counterterrorism and anti-smuggling operations in the Caribbean and Middle East as reckless or unlawful.
The White House confirmed the Sept. 2 directive related to the Yemen operation, but Hegseth said he was not aware of subsequent developments until later that day, having already left for another meeting.
A U.S. official reportedly said that the incident involved four strikes—two intended to kill everyone onboard the targeted vessel and two additional strikes designed to sink it.
Hegseth and the administration have defended their handling of operations in the Caribbean, where tensions with Venezuela continue to mount alongside broader regional instability.
Thanedar joins other prominent Democrats and critics of the administration, including Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, in accusing Hegseth of committing a war crime. The accusations come despite the Inspector General’s report focusing primarily on procedural violations involving unsecured communications rather than legal determinations of criminal conduct in the execution of the strike itself.
The impeachment push is the latest example of how aggressively Democrats are working to undermine Trump administration national security officials ahead of upcoming geopolitical decisions. With the administration maintaining its stance that Hegseth acted appropriately and remains committed to protecting U.S. forces, the battle over the future of the Defense Secretary now shifts to Congress—where partisan lines are already sharply drawn, and where Democrats appear eager to turn internal defense deliberations into a political spectacle.
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