Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., introduced a resolution on Tuesday to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of defying Congress, illegally continuing the U.S. war in Iran, and other offenses. The move drew a pointed “I told you so” from one target of Hegseth’s alleged abuses: Sen. Mark Kelly, who suggested the defense secretary should have heeded his own warning about refusing illegal orders.

In addition to the accusations tied to the Iran war, Massie’s eight-article resolution targets Hegseth over U.S. military operations in Venezuela and Yemen. It accuses him of illegally directing the operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without congressional authorization and of carrying out extrajudicial killings — allegations that place the confrontation inside’s long-running constitutional debate over the power to authorize the use of military force. Member-introduced impeachment resolutions do not automatically reach the House floor; they are typically referred to committee first, and a successful impeachment would require a simple majority in the House, with removal from office demanding a two-thirds vote in the Senate at a subsequent trial.

“Secretary Hegseth abused the powers entrusted to him as secretary of defense by subordinating the constitutional limits on the use of military force and the laws governing the conduct of hostilities to his own policy objectives,” Massie said, adding that Hegseth has shown “profound disregard” for the impact of U.S. military operations on civilians.

The resolution also contends that Hegseth “weaponized the Department of Defense to retaliate against and intimidate Senator Mark Kelly.” Kelly, a retired Navy captain and former NASA astronaut, had appeared in a video alongside five other Democratic lawmakers with military and national-security backgrounds, addressed to members of the military reminding them that “our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders.” That message echoed a long-standing principle of U.S. military law: service members are obligated to obey lawful orders, but a manifestly unlawful one carries no such protection, and following it is no defense. According to Massie, the video at the time pertained to an “unlawful strike campaign against vessels suspected of narcotics trafficking in international waters.” Kelly, however, indicated that Hegseth would have done well to heed the warning himself.

“I think the real ironic thing about Pete Hegseth’s potential impeachment from being secretary of defense is six of those eight articles are about Pete following illegal orders from the president,” Kelly said in a conversation with an Atlantic host at the September Atlantic Festival in New York. “If he’d just listened to us, he would not have found himself as now … [as] the first cabinet member where a member of his own party has tried to impeach him and throw him out of office.” (Watch via The Atlantic on X.)

“So, [Hegseth] goes down in history as that guy,” Kelly added. “But if he had listened to the six of us he would not have found himself in this situation.”

Kelly said he had “never met Tom Massie” before the resolution was introduced this week. “We’ve never spoken before until a couple of days ago after this happened. I thought it was appropriate to give him [a] call because of his … resolution of impeachment, but it’s eight articles in there. One of them is about what Pete Hegseth is trying to do to me, my name, and he goes through my case and why he believes this is an impeachable offense.”