Hegseth Survives Impeachment Attempt

Self-styled Secretary of War Pete Hegseth narrowly avoided impeachment Tuesday night, as solidarity from House Republicans blocked a bill introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., charging Hegseth with “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Though Democrats overwhelmingly joined Massie’s effort following their midterm election landslide, the House voted 211 to 204 to refer the charges to a committee, allowing Republicans to slow the process. With 11 Democrats absent, they lacked the numbers. Massie, however, dismissed the impact of Democratic absences to The Intercept. “No, there were enough Republicans to rally to get here,” he said.

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The procedural vote spared Republicans a more difficult vote on whether to impeach Hegseth on Massie’s eight charges, including waging wars without Congressional authorization and undercutting measures to prevent civilian casualties. It followed a week of increasingly desperate efforts by the Pentagon chief to shore up Congressional and White House support, including a campaign-style video intended to influence Trump, a social media campaign by underlings, and a rare appearance by Hegseth himself before the Pentagon press corps.

Over half an hour on Tuesday morning, Hegseth wove a web of lies designed to refute or obfuscate Massie’s eight charges. He claimed that the effort to impeach him was a stunt by just “one disgruntled congressman.” That, too, turned out to be false as 203 members of Congress voted with Massie.

On Tuesday, a coalition of more than 40 civil society organizations – including Oxfam America, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Common Defense, Demand Progress, MoveOn, and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft – sent a letter calling on all House members to vote for every article of impeachment filed against Hegseth.

“Pete Hegseth’s time at the Pentagon has done grievous harm to the nation and to the Constitution,” said Demand Progress Senior Policy Advisor Cavan Kharrazian. “This is a man who ignored the will of Congress to execute an illegal war in Iran, kidnapped a foreign leader for oil, restarted war on Yemen, sent missiles to kill suspected drug traffickers and weaponized the Pentagon against a political enemy.”

“They diagnosed why they lost the election. But tonight they were paralyzed to do anything about it.”

The House has only impeached two Cabinet secretaries: William Belknap, the secretary of war, in 1876; and Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, in 2024. In neither case did the Senate vote to convict.

After the vote, Massie called out the display of inaction from his Republican colleagues.

“They diagnosed why they lost the election,” Massie said of fellow Republicans following the vote on Tuesday night. “But tonight they were paralyzed to do anything about it. And that’s the story of Congress.”

Absent from the vote were Democratic Reps. Julia Brownley, Lou Correa and Nancy Pelosi, of California, Laura Gillen of New York, Steven Horsford of Nevada, Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, Brittany Pettersen of Colorado, Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, Haley Stevens of Michigan, Marilyn Strickland of Washington, and Frederica Wilson of Florida. The absent Republicans were Reps. Monica De La Cruz of Texas, Neal Dunn of Florida, Russell Fry of South Carolina, Julia Letlow of Louisiana, Tom Tiffany and Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, and Rudy Yakym of Indiana.

A senior Congressional staffer predicted that Hegseth would face a very rough road if he survived impeachment. “Oversight is going to come crashing down on his head,” that staffer said. “Will Hegseth continue to obstruct? Yes. But wait until the subpoenas start.”

Congressional committees have broad investigative powers, including the authority to subpoena administration officials to testify under oath and compel them to turn over documents. Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, who will head the House Armed Services Committee in the next Congress, said Hegseth and Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg would be first on the list to testify.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., one of the leading voices for Hegseth’s impeachment, told The Intercept there were “many ways” for Democrats to hold him accountable in the next session, specifically compelling him to testify before the American people. “I would be surprised to see him last the next two years in this administration,” she told The Intercept. “I think that he is not only one of the most incompetent members of the administration, but also the most unpopular — and it’s on a bipartisan basis. So the pressure will continue to grow for there to be some change at the Pentagon.”

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Rep.-elect Richard Ojeda, D-N.C., told The Intercept that the incoming Democrats have Hegseth in their sights. “I want Pete Hegseth not just impeached. I want him prosecuted, They murdered people in the Caribbean. And we killed 163 little girls in Iran,” he said. “Everybody in my class is ready for him to go. We tried it, It didn’t work. Well do it again.”

In a Truth Social post, President Donald Trump celebrated the outcome while expressing confusion over the vote. Trump called it the “Democrats’ attempt to impeach” Hegseth, despite the fact the effort was introduced by Massie, a Republican, who he called “a major LOSER.”  He claimed it was an “EXONERATION” of Hegseth and added: “The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States of America. They must be stopped!”

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