Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came out on top Tuesday night as the House voted 211-204 to send Rep. Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution to the House Judiciary Committee, a move that effectively ends the effort to impeach him in this Congress.
The vote was tight, but the result was clear. Republicans held together, and Massie, the outgoing Kentucky Republican who wrote the articles, was the only member of his party to vote with Democrats against sending the measure to committee, according to NBC News, The Hill, USA Today and Reuters.
What Massie wanted
Massie’s resolution laid out eight articles of impeachment. Most centered on the war with Iran, accusing Hegseth of waging it without a declaration of war or authorization from Congress and continuing it past the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day limit. Other articles targeted the strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, the operation that seized Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, military action in Yemen, and the Pentagon’s move against Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.
Because Massie filed the resolution as a privileged measure, House Republican leaders had to bring it up within two legislative days. They chose a motion to refer it to committee, which only needed a simple majority to keep the articles from ever reaching a floor vote.
“We have the votes”
Speaker Mike Johnson predicted the outcome before the roll call. “We have the votes. We’ll dispense with the impeachment gambit,” Johnson told Scripps News, as reported by the BBC.
Even some Republicans who have criticized Hegseth said they did not believe his actions rose to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” NBC News reported.
Hegseth: “A political spectacle”
Hegseth went on offense earlier Tuesday at his first Pentagon news conference in six months. He called the impeachment effort “a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” and argued lawmakers were targeting him over “policy disagreements,” not the high crimes the Constitution requires, according to the Associated Press. He also called it a “farce” and said, “This is sabotage.”
President Donald Trump has stood by his defense secretary, saying Hegseth gets an “‘A’ PLUS.” Vice President JD Vance said it was “absurd” to suggest Hegseth committed impeachable crimes.
What comes next
For now, the articles sit with the Republican-led Judiciary Committee. Democrats, led by Hakeem Jeffries, who called himself a “hard yes” on impeachment, take control of the House in January after last week’s midterm elections, so the fight over Hegseth may not be over. But Tuesday night belonged to Hegseth and the House Republicans who closed ranks behind him.