So what do the articles say he broke?

Transcript

1. Time for one man's final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president,
2. this country, and most irresponsibly,
3. the warriors who defend it.
4. It's a farce,
5. and it's a stunt,
6. and everybody knows it.
7. That was the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, on Tuesday, the tenth of November.
8. The one man is Thomas Massie, a Republican.
9. The day before, Massie filed eight articles of impeachment against him,
10. forcing the House to vote.
11. Three accuse him of waging war on Iran without the approval of Congress.
12. Massie lost his primary to a candidate Hegseth campaigned for.
13. Hegseth calls him disgruntled.
14. Massie says: I'm a defeated congressman.
15. I'm not disgruntled.
16. On the third of November, a week before Hegseth spoke, Republicans lost the House.
17. Several, including Vice President JD Vance,
18. blamed the war, though Vance calls impeaching Hegseth absurd.
19. Senator Thom Tillis has said Trump should fire him.
20. Most House Republicans were still expected to vote against impeaching him.
21. The day after the election,
22. NBC News reported Trump told allies he was considering replacing him.
23. In public, on the day Massie filed, he wrote: "Congress, stand up for Pete."
24. So what do the articles say he broke?
25. A law from 1973 says
26. a war Congress has not authorised must end 60 days after the president reports it,
27. with 30 more only to get the troops out safely.
28. The Iran war began on 28 February.
29. On the first of May,
30. the White House told Congress a ceasefire had ended the hostilities.
31. Hegseth said the clock had paused.
32. Massie's articles say every deadline had passed by June.
33. That month, both chambers voted to order the forces out.
34. The articles say the operations went on.
35. That vote's legal force is disputed.
36. At the Pentagon, Hegseth said every operation was lawful.
37. In the 250 years of our American republic,
38. no Secretary of War or Secretary of Defense
39. has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations,
40. and in our case,
41. successful ones at that.
42. Not once.
43. In 1999, Bill Clinton's air war also ran past that clock.
44. His lawyers said Congress approved it by paying for it,
45. and the House voted against pulling out.
46. No one was impeached.
47. This June, both chambers voted to pull the forces out.
48. Hours after he spoke,
49. the House voted 211 to 204 to send the articles to a committee,
50. setting them aside.
51. Massie was the only Republican against.