House defeats impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House voted Tuesday to send Rep. Thomas Massie's impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to a committee, halting the measure with a 211-204 margin. The resolution, filed as a privileged motion, would have brought eight articles of impeachment alleging violations of war-time statutes and other conduct in operations in Iran, Yemen, Venezuela and the Caribbean.

Mass, a Kentucky Republican and vocal critic of Hegseth, argued that the secretary had "violated the norms of war" and called for impeachment to uphold constitutional law. He was the sole Republican to join Democrats in keeping the resolution alive during the vote.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, said his party would pursue further action against Hegseth if it gains control of Congress next year. Defense Secretary Hegseth dismissed the impeachment effort as a "political spectacle" and maintained that all cited military actions were lawful.

President Donald Trump posted support for Hegseth on his social-media platform, praising the secretary's performance and describing the vote as an exoneration.

Some Republicans expressed reservations about the impeachment drive. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, said he disagreed with the resolution's approach, while Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, suggested the effort would not survive a Senate trial and noted that Massie's motivation might stem from his recent primary defeat.

The eight articles of impeachment charge Hegseth with waging an undeclared war against Iran, continuing hostilities after the War Powers Resolution expired, ignoring civilian-casualty safeguards, authorizing extrajudicial killings of suspected drug traffickers, intervening in Venezuela to seize oil assets, retaliating against Senator Mark Kelly, and conducting an unlawful war in Yemen. Hegseth defended each operation as lawful and necessary for national security.