The Republican-led Home on Tuesday narrowly rejected a push to question Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth over how he has carried out the battle in Iran and different navy hostilities in Yemen, Venezuela and the Caribbean.
The vote was 211-204 to ship the impeachment decision to committee, successfully killing the trouble. Even vocal GOP critics of Hegseth mentioned they didn’t assume that the secretary’s motion rose to the extent of “excessive crimes and misdemeanors.”
The impeachment decision was authored by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a fierce critic of Hegseth and President Donald Trump; each helped oust Massie in his GOP major race earlier this yr. As a result of Massie had filed the movement as “privileged,” Republican leaders had been pressured to name a vote inside two legislative days.
Hegseth “has violated the norms of battle, and it’s to the drawback and the dishonor of our nation, and to the hazard of our troopers in future conflicts,” mentioned Massie, the lone Republican who supported transferring to an impeachment vote.
Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie launched eight articles of impeachment for Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth for alleged violations of the Structure and U.S. code, saying Hegseth “will stay a menace to the Structure if allowed to stay in workplace.”
“Any person’s obtained to place their foot down and say, are we going to observe the legal guidelines which might be on the books? Are we going to observe the Structure?” he continued. “And one of the simplest ways to try this is to have an impeachment towards Pete Hegseth.”
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who’s on monitor to be elected speaker in January, has mentioned Democrats will “run Pete Hegseth out of city” once they take over Congress subsequent yr.
However Hegseth is secure for now, and Trump mentioned he’s standing by his Protection secretary, who has clashed with not solely Democrats however a handful of Republicans within the Senate and the Home.
The vote got here on the finish of a dramatic day in Washington that Hegseth kicked off with a morning information convention on the Pentagon, the place he slammed the impeachment as a “political spectacle.”
Secretary of Protection Pete Hegseth spoke on the Pentagon about articles of impeachment filed towards him by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky.
“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt and everyone is aware of it,” Hegseth mentioned.
He argued that the entire navy actions cited by Massie had been “lawful” and referred to as the impeachment a direct affront to the women and men finishing up these missions. Hegseth additionally equated Tuesday’s impeachment vote to the 2 Democratic-led votes to question Trump throughout his first time period — first over a telephone name with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the second over the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
“If standing with President Trump places me in that firm, I’ll take that firm daily of the week,” Hegseth mentioned.
Shortly after Hegseth’s look, Trump posted his assist for the Protection secretary on Reality Social, saying he “will get an “A” PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his protection towards a disgruntled, indignant, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!”
Hegseth, a former Fox Information host, has been a polarizing determine in Washington, surviving a bruising Senate affirmation battle in 2025.
Nevertheless, one GOP critic, outgoing Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., mentioned he has had loads of disagreements with Hegseth however didn’t like how the impeachment decision was led by Massie.
“I don’t actually align with the impeachment itself,” Bacon, an Air Pressure veteran, informed reporters earlier than the vote. “However I certainly, when you would have put in [a line] about firing 80 generals, if we discuss firing 80 generals and never spending appropriated cash, I’d really feel a bit otherwise about it.”
One other Republican leaving Congress this yr, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, advised Massie was pushing impeachment as a result of he was upset about his major defeat. And he added that even when it did go the Home, there aren’t 67 senators who would vote to convict him in a Senate trial.
“It’s going to die within the Senate; it’s simply that straightforward. It doesn’t actually matter what occurs within the Home. The Secretary has dedicated no excessive crimes or misdemeanors,” Issa mentioned. “The Senate typically has to guard towards the rashness of the Home.”
Massie’s decision included eight articles of impeachment towards Hegseth.
The primary article prices Hegseth “with waging the Iran battle regardless of no declaration of battle, statutory authorization, assault on the USA, or imminent menace,” based on Massie.
Three others which might be associated to Iran fault Hegseth with persevering with the battle after each the Home and Senate directed the removing of U.S. forces; persevering with hostilities after the Conflict Powers Decision’s 60-day termination interval had expired; and ignoring legal guidelines that decrease civilian casualties.
One other article prices Hegseth with directing “extrajudicial killings” of suspected drug traffickers within the Caribbean Sea and Japanese Pacific Ocean, secondary strikes on survivors, and overseeing orders to U.S. personnel to not rescue shipwrecked individuals.
The others say Hegseth illegally seized and deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “to claim U.S. management over Venezuela’s oil reserves”; used the Protection Division to retaliate towards and demote Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for telling service members they need to not observe illegal orders; and carried out an illegal battle in Yemen.
Hegseth on Tuesday morning defended his document and mentioned each operation was a lawful one. “We destroyed terror regimes’ capabilities. We sank the boats carrying poison into our communities. We put a narco dictator in handcuffs. These aren’t excessive crimes. That is the job, and it’s the job properly achieved,” he mentioned.
