US House rejects bid to impeach defence secretary Pete Hegseth

The US House on Tuesday turned aside a resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, halting an effort to remove the Pentagon chief for his conduct in office and his handling of the war in Iran. The vote came as Republicans grapple with the fallout from sweeping midterm losses that some in the party have blamed on the war in Iran and the resulting surge in gas prices. But after President Donald Trump signaled strong support for Hegseth, GOP lawmakers largely stood by the secretary Tuesday, blocking the effort in a near party-line vote. Instead of holding a final vote, the House voted 211-204 to send the articles to the Republican-led Judiciary Committee. The move effectively kills the effort to impeach Hegseth, who has overseen the Iran war, in the current Congress. Any new attempt would have to wait until January, when a Democratic-led House is sworn in.

BREAKING: Thomas Massie’s resolution to impeach Pete Hegseth fails in the House 211-204, after 11 Democrats failed to show up for the vote. If those 11 Democrats had showed up, Hegseth would have been impeached 215-211. https://t.co/jjNmTTj6wf

— Power to the People (@ProudSocialist) November 10, 2026

The articles of impeachment were reintroduced by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a critic of the Trump administration, on Monday. Prior to Tuesday’s vote, a number of observers - including prominent Republican Senator Ted Cruz - predicted that other Republican lawmakers unhappy with the conduct of the Iran war would join Massie in voting to move ahead with Hegseth’s impeachment. However, Massie proved to be the only Republican who voted not to block an impeachment voted.
President Trump welcomed Tuesday’s vote as an exoneration of his administration’s policies, including in Iran and Venezuela. “The Democrats’ attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED! Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major LOSER, voted in favor of Pete. Again, Victories in Venezuela and Iran, the Best Recruitment Numbers in the History of the Military (Long waiting lists to get in!), and Spirit like rarely seen before, led to the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot. The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States of America. They must be stopped! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” he said in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.