House Republicans on Tuesday blocked an attempt to impeach Pete Hegseth, rejecting allegations that the defense secretary repeatedly violated the Constitution in his handling of the Iran war and other global conflicts.
The vote came a week after Republicans lost control of the Senate and House of Representatives in their worst midterm elections in more than half a century, and underscored how lawmakers remain cautious about antagonizing Donald Trump, who has signaled his continued support for Hegseth.
Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman who lost his primary election after breaking with the president, had proposed impeaching Hegseth in September, alleging a range of illegal acts, including the killing of civilians in Iran, launching unauthorized operations in Venezuela and Yemen and retaliation against a Democratic senator.
Top Democrats announced their support for the resolution, but Republicans decided to kill it by sending it to the Judiciary Committee. Their motion passed Tuesday, by a vote of 211 to 204, largely along partisan lines. Massie was the only Republican to oppose the motion, along with all Democrats.
Trump, who has been impeached twice, celebrated what he hailed as “the EXONERATION of a great American patriot” and lambasted Massie for forcing the vote.
“Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States,” Trump said on Truth Social. “We have to stop them!” »
The Pentagon, meanwhile, declared “total victory.”
“The referral of these baseless articles of impeachment to the House Judiciary Committee marks a complete victory for Secretary Hegseth, the War Department, and America’s warfighter,” Sean Parnell, a department spokesperson, wrote in a social media post.
Tuesday’s vote is unlikely to be the final word on efforts to remove Hegseth from office, after Democrats won decisive majorities in November’s midterm elections. Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader who is expected to become the next speaker when Democrats take control of the chamber in January, supported efforts to impeach Hegseth, accusing the embattled secretary of “undermining America’s national security.”
In an interview with PBS on Tuesday, Jeffries said he was “an emphatic yes to the Hegseth resolution.”
“He abused his power. He undermined our national security. And Pete Hegseth is the architect of this reckless and costly war in Iran, which has made our country less secure and made life more expensive for the American people,” Jeffries told the outlet.
The resolution’s collapse came hours after Hegseth held a provocative news conference at the Pentagon, where he called the impeachment attempt a “political spectacle” orchestrated by the ousted Kentucky congressman.
“It’s a prank, and it’s a set-up, and everyone knows it,” Hegseth said.
The conflict with Iran has proven divisive among Republicans, and ahead of the midterm elections, a small but growing number of people voted with Democrats on war powers resolutions intended to force Trump to end hostilities. Warren Davidson, one of the House Republicans who voted for such resolutions, said he nevertheless rejected the idea of Hegseth’s impeachment.
“This is an effort to shift blame to Congressional Hegseth’s failure and President Trump’s decision,” Davidson said in an interview.
“I think Hegseth has been incredibly effective in restoring morale to active duty forces, restoring the warrior ethos, the proper focus of the military that they exist to fight and win wars.”
The defense secretary, a former Fox News host and National Guard officer, was one of the most pugnacious cabinet members of Trump’s second term and took an unusually authoritarian approach to managing the U.S. military. Hegseth orchestrated the departures of high-ranking generals, blocked the promotions of many officers, many of whom were women and people of color, and implemented new rules that prompted much of the press to leave the Pentagon.
He has also become the public face of some of the administration’s most politically costly policies, particularly the months-long war in Iran while putting upward pressure on oil prices and playing into Democrats’ hands in the midterms last week.
Massie’s resolution outlined eight alleged constitutional violations by Hegseth, including attacking Iran without first seeking permission from Congress, and rejecting a war powers resolution approved by the House and Senate in June that would demand an end to the conflict.
It also accuses Hegseth of “ignoring” laws that would have minimized civilian casualties, and specifically cites a U.S. strike on a school in Minab, Iran, that killed more than 168 people. Other articles claim Hegseth violated the constitution by “extrajudicially executing” at least 221 people on boats suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, and by “suppressing free speech” in retaliation against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly for his criticism of the secretary of state.
The final two articles of impeachment target Hegseth’s involvement in the military operation that captured Venezuela’s then-President Nicolás Maduro and in a bombing campaign in Yemen that began shortly after Trump returned to the White House.
If the impeachment resolution had passed, it would have had to be approved by the Senate, which Republicans control by a margin of 53 seats. It’s unclear whether the bill would have gotten enough votes to pass, or whether Republican leader John Thune would have even submitted it for consideration.
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