WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House on Tuesday rejected an attempt to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his handling of the war in Iran and other military hostilities in Yemen, Venezuela and the Caribbean.
The vote was 211-204 to send the impeachment resolution to committee, effectively killing the effort. Even the Republican Party’s vocal critics of Hegseth said they did not believe the secretary’s action rose to the level of “high crimes.”
The impeachment resolution was authored by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a fierce critic of Hegseth and President Donald Trump; both helped oust Massie during his GOP primary run earlier this year. Because Massie had filed the motion as “privileged,” Republican leaders were forced to call a vote within two legislative days.
Hegseth “violated the norms of war, and did so to the disadvantage and dishonor of our country, and to the danger of our soldiers in future conflicts,” said Massie, the only Republican who voted with Democrats to keep the impeachment resolution in effect Tuesday.
“Someone has to put their foot down and say: Are we going to follow the laws that are in place? Are we going to follow the Constitution?” he continued. “And the best way to do that is to impeach Pete Hegseth.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is in line to be elected speaker in January, said Democrats will “run Pete Hegseth out of town” when they take over Congress next year.
But Hegseth is safe for now, and Trump said he stands with his defense secretary, who has clashed not only with Democrats but also a handful of Republicans in the Senate and House.
The vote came at the end of a dramatic day in Washington, which Hegseth began with a morning news conference at the Pentagon, where he called the impeachment a “political spectacle.”
“It’s a prank, it’s a set-up and everyone knows it,” Hegseth said.
He argued that all of the military actions cited by Massie were “lawful” and called the indictment a direct affront to the men and women who carry out these missions. Hegseth also likened Tuesday’s impeachment vote to the two Democratic-led votes to impeach Trump during his first term — the first in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the second over the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
“If standing with President Trump gets me into this business, I will take this business any day of the week,” Hegseth said.
Shortly after Hegseth’s appearance, Trump posted his support for the Secretary of Defense on Truth Social, saying he “gets an ‘A’ PLUS, MORE, MORE for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!”
Trump posted again after Hegseth survived the vote Tuesday night, saying the vote was an “EXONATION of a great American patriot.”
“The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States. They must be stopped!” he added.
Hegseth, a former Fox News co-host, is a polarizing figure in Washington, surviving a bruising Senate confirmation battle in 2025.
However, one GOP critic, outgoing Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said he had many disagreements with Hegseth but didn’t like the way the impeachment resolution was being handled by Massie.
“I don’t really agree with the impeachment itself,” Bacon, an Air Force veteran, told reporters before the vote. “But I’m sure if you had written a line about firing 80 generals, if we’re talking about firing 80 generals and not spending the appropriate money, I would feel a little different about that.”
Another Republican who left Congress this year, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, suggested that Massie was pushing for impeachment because he was upset about his primary defeat. And he added that even if the bill passed the House, there would not be 67 senators voting to convict it in a Senate trial.
“He’s going to die in the Senate; it’s that simple. It doesn’t matter what happens in the House. The secretary has not committed any high crime or misdemeanor,” Issa said. “The Senate must often protect itself against the temerity of the House. »
Massie’s resolution included eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth.
The first article accuses Hegseth of “waging war against Iran despite having no declaration of war, legal authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat,” according to Massie.
Three others, linked to Iran, criticize Hegseth for continuing the war after the House and Senate ordered the withdrawal of American forces; the continuation of hostilities after the expiration of the 60-day termination period of the War Powers Resolution; and ignore laws that minimize civilian casualties.
Another article accuses Hegseth of directing “extrajudicial killings” of suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, secondary strikes against survivors, and overseeing orders to U.S. personnel not to rescue the shipwrecked.
The others claim that Hegseth illegally seized and removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “to assert U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil reserves”; used the Department of Defense to retaliate and demote Sen. Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, for telling the military they should not follow illegal orders; and waged an illegal war in Yemen.
Hegseth defended his record Tuesday morning and said each operation was legal. “We destroyed the capabilities of terrorist regimes. We sunk the boats carrying poison into our communities. We handcuffed a narco-dictator. These are not serious crimes. It’s the job, and it’s a job well done,” he said.
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