WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth survived the first real threat to his job on Tuesday night, as the Republican-led House voted 211-204 to send an impeachment resolution against him to the Judiciary Committee, effectively killing the effort for now, according to NBC News, USA Today and Reuters.
The resolution was brought by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., an outgoing congressman who lost his GOP primary earlier this year to a Trump-backed challenger. Massie was the only Republican to vote against sending the measure to committee.
Why the vote happened at all
Massie filed his resolution as a “privileged” measure, which forced Republican leaders to bring it up for a vote within two legislative days. Rather than vote directly on impeachment, GOP leaders moved to refer it to the Judiciary Committee, where it is expected to stay for the rest of this Congress.
The resolution contained eight articles of impeachment. Several centered on the war in Iran, charging Hegseth with waging it without a declaration of war or statutory authorization and continuing hostilities after the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day window had expired. Others accused him of directing “extrajudicial killings” of suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, illegally seizing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and carrying out an unlawful war in Yemen, NBC News reported.
What Massie said
Massie argued on the floor that Hegseth “has violated the norms of war, and it’s to the disadvantage and the dishonor of our country, and to the danger of our soldiers in future conflicts.”
“Somebody’s got to put their foot down and say, are we going to follow the laws that are on the books? Are we going to follow the Constitution?” he said.
Hegseth and Trump fire back
Hegseth opened the day with his first Pentagon news conference in six months, calling the effort a “political spectacle.” “It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt and everybody knows it,” he said, insisting every operation Massie cited was lawful.
“We destroyed terror regimes’ capabilities. We sank the boats carrying poison into our communities. We put a narco dictator in handcuffs. These are not high crimes. This is the job, and it’s the job well done,” Hegseth said.
President Donald Trump backed him on Truth Social, saying Hegseth “gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS” for his defense against Massie, whom Trump called “a TOTAL LOSER!”
Even GOP critics balked
Some Republicans who have clashed with Hegseth still opposed impeachment. Outgoing Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said before the vote, “I don’t really align with the impeachment itself,” adding that he would “feel a little differently” if the articles had addressed the firing of 80 generals and unspent appropriated money.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said the effort was going nowhere regardless: “It’s going to die in the Senate; it’s just that simple.”
What comes next
Hegseth is safe for now, but the fight may not be over. Democrats won control of both chambers in the Nov. 3 midterms, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is on track to become speaker in January, has said Democrats will “run Pete Hegseth out of town” once they take over. Even if the House impeached him, removal would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate.