An effort to impeach US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of waging war on Iran without congressional authorisation, has failed on Capitol Hill.
A majority of the House of Representatives agreed to refer impeachment articles to a committee – essentially killing the effort introduced by dissident Republican congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky – for now.
In his first news briefing from the Pentagon in six months, Hegseth called the impeachment effort a “farce” and “sabotage”.
The bid to find the cabinet secretary guilty of misconduct and ultimately remove him from office was seen as a long shot as it could have required a number of other Republicans to defy President Donald Trump.
Massie was the only Republican to vote against moving the resolution to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
His effort failed in a 211-204 vote, with more than a dozen members, including 11 Democrats, missing the vote.
The move to send the measure to the panel effectively kills the effort, as there is only a short period of time left in this Congress before Democrats take control in January.
President Trump celebrated the vote in a post on Truth Social, saying the effort “has miserably FAILED”.
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