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Pete Hegseth has been spared from impeachment — for now — after House Republicans blocked a procedural hurdle that would have led to a vote on the accusations against the Pentagon chief.
Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky filed articles of impeachment against Hegseth Monday, accusing him of unlawfully waging war in Iran and Yemen, capturing former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and striking suspected drug trafficking boats. Hegseth has vehemently denied the allegations.
The articles first had to pass a procedural vote, but with Republicans still in control of the House until the next Congress is convened in January, the measure failed to advance Tuesday.
The House voted 211-204 to refer the articles to the Judiciary Committee, essentially killing the effort.
This isn’t the first time Massie, a vocal Trump critic, has tried to remove Hegseth from office. Massie introduced articles of impeachment against the defense secretary in September over the Iran war, but House Speaker Mike Johnson recessed the House early without a vote on the measure.
Earlier Tuesday, ahead of the vote, Massie admitted that several of his colleagues didn’t support all eight articles of impeachment — but he remained determined to find another way to oust Hegseth.
