House Republicans block effort to hold Hegseth impeachment vote

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The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Tuesday effectively killed a push to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a surprising show of unity from a party battered after last week's midterm drubbing.

WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Tuesday effectively killed a push to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a surprising show of unity from a party battered after last week’s midterm drubbing.

In a Truth Social post, President Donald Trump celebrated the failed efforts and called GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, who led the impeachment drive, a “major loser.”

Democrats — who voted unanimously against shelving the impeachment charges — will have a large House majority next year after winning at least 255 seats in last week's midterm elections. They have already vowed to try to remove Hegseth from office when they take control of Congress.

"In the majority, one of the first things we're gonna do is run Pete Hegseth out of town," Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader who is poised to become House speaker, said at a rally last month.

Eleven Democrats missed Tuesday's vote, which succeeded in blocking the charges by a 211 to 204 margin.

Rep. Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, reintroduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth on Monday, alleging that the embattled Pentagon chief had committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" and abused the power of his office by violating the War Powers Resolution, conducting military operations without congressional authorization and ordering unlawful military actions in several countries.

On Tuesday, Massie was the only Republican who broke with his party and voted to keep the articles of impeachment alive.

Before Tuesday's vote, Hegseth struck a defiant tone in a Pentagon news briefing. He described the impeachment efforts as "a farce" and insisted that "none of these are high crimes or misdemeanors — they are partisan policy disagreements from people who want to politicize our military."

He added, "That's what it is. Policy disagreements. Not high crimes. Not misdemeanors. Not treason. Not bribery.

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