Efforts to impeach US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth stalled on Tuesday after Republicans closed ranks around the embattled Pentagon chief to block a House vote on impeachment.
Instead of holding a final vote, the House voted 211-204 to send the articles to the Republican-led Judiciary Committee. The move effectively kills the effort to impeach Hegseth, who has overseen the Iran war, in the current Congress. Any new attempt would have to wait until January, when a Democratic-led House is sworn in.
The articles of impeachment were reintroduced by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a critic of the Trump administration, on Monday.
Prior to Tuesday’s vote, a number of observers – including prominent Republican Senator Ted Cruz – predicted that other Republican lawmakers unhappy with the conduct of the Iran war would join Massie in voting to move ahead with Hegseth’s impeachment. However, Massie proved to be the only Republican who voted not to block an impeachment voted.
President Trump welcomed Tuesday’s vote as an exoneration of his administration’s policies, including in Iran and Venezuela.
“The Democrats’ attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED! Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major LOSER, voted in favor of Pete. Again, Victories in Venezuela and Iran, the Best Recruitment Numbers in the History of the Military (Long waiting lists to get in!), and Spirit like rarely seen before, led to the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot. The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States of America. They must be stopped! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” he said in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.
The articles of impeachment introduced by Congressman Massie against Secretary Hegseth included 3 charges of waging war against Iran illegally in violation of a long standing War Powers Resolution.
They also included charges of extrajudicial killings in strikes on suspected drug traffickers and suppressing free speech by targeting outside critics like Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, a military veteran.
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Hegseth argued that the introduction of articles of impeachment against him sent the wrong message to American adversaries globally, including Iran.
“Let’s be clear about what this resolution actually does. It tells our enemies — Iran, the cartels, the Houthis, every adversary watching — that the United States will actually punish its own warfighters and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations,” he declared on Tuesday.
However, Hegseth’s reprieve may prove only to be temporary. A new Democratic-led House and Senate will bring increased pressure and scrutiny on the Trump administration and Hegseth for their handling of the war in Iran.
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to take over as Speaker of the House in January, said last week that he was a “hard yes” on supporting Hegseth’s impeachment.
Also read | Trump hails House move to block Hegseth impeachment, calls Thomas Massie a ‘major loser’
Removing Hegseth from office will prove an uphill task even with a Democratic majority in the House and Senate.
While the House can vote to impeach Hegseth, removal from office can only result from a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate. The Democrats could win as many as 56 seats in the upper chamber, leaving them roughly 11 votes short of the required number in their best case scenario.