On Tuesday, the House voted 211 to 204 to refer an impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to committee, effectively blocking the effort led by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie.
Massie filed eight articles of impeachment accusing Hegseth of waging unauthorized war in Iran, ignoring laws to minimize civilian casualties, and directing “extrajudicial killings” in counternarcotics operations off Venezuela.
Eleven Democrats skipped the vote, providing enough numbers to have flipped the outcome had they attended, while Massie stood as the only Republican voting against shelving the measure.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared “Hegseth has got to go,” yet President Donald Trump continues to “stand by” his Pentagon chief despite calling him “one of the guys most responsible” for election losses.
Democrats could potentially renew impeachment efforts when they assume control of Congress in January, as Republicans shielded Hegseth following voter discontent about the Iran war that cost them midterm seats.
The US House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 211-204 to send a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to committee, effectively killing the effort.
Republicans backed the motion 210-1 and were joined by the chamber’s lone independent, while all 203 Democrats who voted opposed it. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, who authored the resolution, was the only Republican to vote against it.
Massie’s resolution, introduced Monday, contained eight articles of impeachment. They accuse Hegseth of waging war with Iran without congressional authorization, carrying out extrajudicial killings in airstrikes against alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea, illegally seizing then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, targeting Democratic Senator Mark Kelly and carrying out an unlawful war in Yemen.
Hegseth dismissed the effort at a Pentagon news conference earlier Tuesday.
“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt and everybody knows it,” he said. “These are not high crimes. This is the job, and it’s the job well done.”
