Republican-led House rejects Hegseth impeachment effort

The Republican-led House on Tuesday narrowly rejected a push to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over how he has carried out the war in Iran and other military hostilities in Yemen, Venezuela and the Caribbean.

The vote was 211-204 to send the impeachment resolution to committee, effectively killing the effort. Even vocal GOP critics of Hegseth said they didn’t think that the secretary’s action rose to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

The impeachment resolution was authored by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a fierce critic of Hegseth and President Donald Trump; both helped oust Massie in his GOP primary race earlier this year. Because Massie had filed the motion as “privileged,” Republican leaders were forced to call a vote within two legislative days.

Hegseth “has violated the norms of war, and it’s to the disadvantage and the dishonor of our country, and to the danger of our soldiers in future conflicts,” said Massie, the lone Republican who supported moving to an impeachment vote.

Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie introduced eight articles of impeachment for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for alleged violations of the Constitution and U.S. code, saying Hegseth “will remain a threat to the Constitution if allowed to remain in office.”

“Somebody’s got to put their foot down and say, are we going to follow the laws that are on the books? Are we going to follow the Constitution?” he continued. “And the best way to do that is to have an impeachment against Pete Hegseth.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is on track to be elected speaker in January, has said Democrats will “run Pete Hegseth out of town” when they take over Congress next year.

But Hegseth is safe for now, and Trump said he is standing by his Defense secretary, who has clashed with not only Democrats but a handful of Republicans in the Senate and the House.

The vote came at the end of a dramatic day in Washington that Hegseth kicked off with a morning news conference at the Pentagon, where he slammed the impeachment as a “political spectacle.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke at the Pentagon about articles of impeachment filed against him by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky.

“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt and everybody knows it,” Hegseth said.

He argued that all of the military actions cited by Massie were “lawful” and called the impeachment a direct affront to the men and women carrying out those missions. Hegseth also equated Tuesday’s impeachment vote to the two Democratic-led votes to impeach Trump during his first term — first over a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the second over the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol.

“If standing with President Trump puts me in that company, I’ll take that company every day of the week,” Hegseth said.

Shortly after Hegseth’s appearance, Trump posted his support for the Defense secretary on Truth Social, saying he “gets an “A” PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!”

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has been a polarizing figure in Washington, surviving a bruising Senate confirmation battle in 2025.

However, one GOP critic, outgoing Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said he has had plenty of disagreements with Hegseth but didn’t like how the impeachment resolution was led by Massie.

“I don’t really align with the impeachment itself,” Bacon, an Air Force veteran, told reporters before the vote. “But I surely, if you would have put in [a line] about firing 80 generals, if we talk about firing 80 generals and not spending appropriated money, I’d feel a little differently about it.”

Another Republican leaving Congress this year, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, suggested Massie was pushing impeachment because he was upset about his primary defeat. And he added that even if it did pass the House, there are not 67 senators who would vote to convict him in a Senate trial.

“It’s going to die in the Senate; it’s just that simple. It doesn’t really matter what happens in the House. The Secretary has committed no high crimes or misdemeanors,” Issa said. “The Senate often has to protect against the rashness of the House.”

Massie’s resolution included eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth.

The first article charges Hegseth “with waging the Iran war despite no declaration of war, statutory authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat,” according to Massie.

Three others that are related to Iran fault Hegseth with continuing the war after both the House and Senate directed the removal of U.S. forces; continuing hostilities after the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day termination period had expired; and ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties.

Another article charges Hegseth with directing “extrajudicial killings” of suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean, secondary strikes on survivors, and overseeing orders to U.S. personnel not to rescue shipwrecked persons.

The others say Hegseth illegally seized and deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “to assert U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil reserves”; used the Defense Department to retaliate against and demote Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for telling service members they should not follow unlawful orders; and carried out an unlawful war in Yemen.

Hegseth on Tuesday morning defended his record and said every operation was a lawful one. “We destroyed terror regimes’ capabilities. We sank the boats carrying poison into our communities. We put a narco dictator in handcuffs. These are not high crimes. This is the job, and it’s the job well done,” he said.