House Votes 211-204 to Shelve Hegseth Impeachment Push

The House of Representatives voted 211-204 on Tuesday evening to send eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the Judiciary Committee, a move that effectively ends the effort for the rest of this Congress.

Massie was the only Republican to vote against the referral. Every Democrat who took part in the vote opposed sending the articles to committee, and 11 Democrats missed the vote, according to Agence France-Presse.

The referral means the full House will not vote on whether Hegseth should be impeached before the 119th Congress ends on 3 January. An impeachment resolution that has not been adopted by then does not carry over into the next Congress.

A privileged resolution, and a procedural vote

Massie filed the resolution on Monday, and the House was obliged to act on it within two legislative days because he filed it as a privileged resolution. Under House rules, the chamber could refer the resolution to committee, table it, or vote on the charges directly. Republican leaders chose referral.

Had the referral motion failed, the House could have moved to votes on the articles themselves as soon as Wednesday, according to CBS News.

The articles now sit with the Judiciary Committee, chaired by Jim Jordan, whom House Republicans chose on Tuesday to lead them into the next Congress, beating Steve Scalise 106-73. The Republican-controlled committee is not expected to advance the resolution to a floor vote.

Massie, who lost his Republican primary in May, leaves office when the 119th Congress ends on 3 January. He said on Monday that he would not bring another impeachment resolution.

What the eight articles allege

The articles accuse Hegseth of high crimes and misdemeanours, centred on the war with Iran and other military operations. The 34-page resolution accuses him of waging war against Iran in violation of the War Powers Resolution, after the conflict began on 28 February without a declaration of war or congressional authorisation.

The other charges include ignoring laws meant to limit civilian casualties, directing extrajudicial killings in counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean and the Pacific, retaliating against Senator Mark Kelly for remarks he made to troops about illegal orders, and attempting to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without a declaration of war. The articles also cover operations in Yemen.

Speaker Mike Johnson had warned lawmakers against impeaching the defence secretary while the challenge was pending.

‘Sabotage,’ Hegseth said; Trump calls it exoneration

Hegseth addressed the effort at his first formal Pentagon news conference since May on Tuesday, hours before the vote. He called the impeachment push “sabotage”, saying: “This is not patriotism. This is sabotage.” He told reporters that every operation named in the articles was ordered by President Trump.

President Trump called the result an exoneration after the vote.

The House has voted to impeach only two cabinet officials in US history, and the Senate did not convict either.

What happens next

Democrats, who take control of both chambers in January after their midterm victories, could revive the effort in the new Congress. But removing Hegseth would still require a two-thirds majority in the Senate, a bar that has historically proved difficult to clear.

Democrats have also weighed using the 11 December funding deadline to challenge the Iran war, a separate fight that continues regardless of Tuesday’s vote.

For now, the impeachment push is shelved. The vote spared Hegseth an impeachment vote on the merits, at least until the new Congress takes its seats in January.