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The US House of Representatives has blocked an effort to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war in Iran, which the resolution said was waged without congressional authorisation.
In a 211-204 vote, the House agreed to refer the impeachment articles to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, effectively ending the effort for now, according to BBC World. More than a dozen members, including 11 Democrats, did not vote.
Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only Republican to oppose sending the resolution to the committee. The effort was widely seen as unlikely to succeed because it would have required other Republicans to defy President Donald Trump.
Trump celebrated the resolution’s defeat in a post on “Truth Social”, calling Massie “a major LOSER”. He said victories in Venezuela and Iran, military recruitment figures and morale had led to the “EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot”, referring to Hegseth.
Massie had acknowledged that his impeachment bid might not succeed immediately. He argued it could pressure Trump to replace Hegseth before Democrats launch their own impeachment process, and give the Senate time to approve a successor while Republicans remain in power.
Impeachment resolutions can carry over beyond the end of a congressional term, allowing Democrats to take up the matter next year. Democrats are set to take control of both chambers of Congress in January after a successful midterm election. House Speaker Mike Johnson had predicted earlier on Tuesday that the effort would fail.
The eight articles of impeachment, formally introduced in the House on Monday, said Hegseth was “breaking the law and must be held accountable” for conducting the war in Iran for more than 90 days without lawmakers’ approval. They also accused him of overseeing “extrajudicial killings” in a US campaign against boats alleged to be carrying drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
At a Pentagon news briefing on Tuesday — his first in six months — Hegseth called the impeachment effort a “farce” and “sabotage”. He described it as a political stunt by a Trump administration opponent who was “disgruntled and defeated”.
Hegseth said the resolution endangered national security by signalling to US adversaries “that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations”. He also cited rising military recruitment, a point Trump had made during an unannounced appearance in the White House briefing room on Monday.
Hegseth argued that Massie was motivated by policy disagreements, “not high crimes, not misdemeanours, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offences the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause”.
Massie, who lost re-election earlier this year to a Trump-backed opponent, has criticised Trump and the war in Iran since it began in February. He had also angered the president by calling on the administration to release files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Although Hegseth has survived politically for now, lawmakers including some Republicans have questioned how long he can remain in the administration. Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said on Tuesday he expected Hegseth to resign or be fired by Trump.
