WASHINGTON, USA – Republicans in the US House of Representatives blocked an effort on Tuesday, November 10, to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, winning a reprieve for the polarizing Pentagon chief before Democrats take control of Congress next year and possibly try again.
The vote on a procedural motion came just hours after Hegseth blasted efforts to impeach him as a farce and delivered a defiant defense of his record at the helm of the US military, winning praise from President Donald Trump.
The chamber voted 211 to 204 in favor of a motion to refer eight articles of impeachment to the Republican-led House judiciary committee, a move that the sponsor of the impeachment push, US Representative Thomas Massie, warned would kill it.
Massie, an outgoing Kentucky Republican, had hoped to draw votes from Republicans upset with Hegseth’s policies and wary of the unpopularity of the Iran war but no other Republicans joined him. Democrats had voiced strong support for the impeachment effort but 11 failed to show up to vote.
Trump cheered the vote in a social media post, saying the effort to impeach Hegseth “has miserably FAILED!”
In a sign that the impeachment episode may have drawn Trump and Hegseth closer together, Trump added that Hegseth’s performance on Iran, Venezuela, and other issues “led to the EXONERATION of…
