Motion fails because of Republicans: Hegseth's impeachment stopped in the US House of Representatives

dpa | The Republican majority in the US House of Representatives has initially stopped the attempt to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. With 211 votes to 204, Republican Thomas Massie's initiative against his party colleague fell short of the necessary majority in the first vote. The matter was thus formally referred to a committee before the parliamentary chamber could vote on the allegations against Hegseth.

US President Donald Trump was delighted after the vote. The attempt “failed miserably!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

His Republicans still have the majority in the House of Representatives. The new representatives elected last week in the midterms will not enter parliament until January. Then the Democrats will have a majority in both chambers - and could scrutinize Hegseth's official business again.

Current Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared combative to reporters. “This is not the end of it, it is just the beginning,” US broadcasters CNN and CBS News quoted him as saying. Left-wing Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also said: "There will be very, very many investigations. I expect a lot of subpoenas."

On Tuesday (local time), eleven Democratic MPs did not vote - so there was at least the possibility that the vote on the impeachment proceedings could have turned out differently.

But even if it were successful in the House of Representatives, impeachment would require the approval of the Senate, the second chamber of Parliament. A two-thirds majority would be needed there - which is currently considered unlikely and even after the new majority in January.

Republican Massie, who is retiring from Congress, had previously raised allegations against Hegseth in the House of Representatives over his actions in the Iran war. Armed forces were deployed in hostilities against the Islamic Republic despite no authorization from Congress, it said.

He also ignored laws designed to minimize civilian casualties. He also makes allegations against Hegseth in connection with US military operations against the boats of suspected drug smugglers. Critics view the action as unlawful extrajudicial killings.

The Pentagon chief himself rejected the allegations. At a press conference before the vote, he said with regard to Iran that he would not apologize for the US military destroying the military capabilities of a country that was chanting “Death to the USA”. “The whole thing is a farce and it’s a set-up – and everyone knows it,” he said.