House leadership shut down Congress a day early and sent members home until after the midterms to dodge a forced vote on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the Iran war — a win for Speaker Mike Johnson in the short term, but a bad look for Republicans facing an unpopular war.

• Rep. Thomas Massie, a lame-duck Kentucky Republican, read articles of impeachment against Hegseth on the House floor without warning leadership, triggering a 48-hour clock for a vote.
• Johnson cancelled the remaining session rather than hold the vote, and Congress is now out until November.
• The shutdown also stalls Massie's Epstein files discharge petition, which sat at 190 of the 218 signatures needed.
• The impeachment case rests on Congress never authorizing the Iran war and Hegseth gutting the Pentagon's ability to limit civilian casualties.
• A Hegseth vote would have been harder for Republicans than another Trump impeachment, since Hegseth lacks Trump's hold on the base and some GOP members are already breaking with the party over the war.

Outlook: Hegseth will not be impeached now, but the war-powers fight and the Epstein petition return in the lame-duck session after the election.