The United States House of Representatives has blocked an attempt to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth over his handling of the war against Iran, with lawmakers voting to refer the impeachment articles to a committee, effectively halting the move for now.
The resolution, introduced by Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, accused Hegseth of waging war against Iran without congressional authorisation.
The proposal was defeated in a 211-204 vote on Tuesday, with more than a dozen lawmakers, including 11 Democrats, absent during the vote.
Massie was the only Republican who voted against referring the impeachment resolution to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee.
The decision is expected to end the immediate push to remove Hegseth, particularly as Democrats are set to take control of both chambers of Congress in January.
Reacting to the outcome, President Donald Trump celebrated the decision in a post on Truth Social, declaring that the impeachment effort “has miserably FAILED”.
Trump also described Hegseth as a patriot, saying, “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.”
Massie, however, expressed disappointment over the outcome, although he said he had anticipated the defeat.
According to BBC’s US media partner CBS, the congressman said, “My diagnosis of Congress is these people know what to do,” adding, “They just can’t bring themselves to do it, even when it would benefit them politically.”
The impeachment effort was based on eight articles formally introduced on Monday, in which Massie accused Hegseth of “breaking the law and must be held accountable” for conducting military operations against Iran for more than 90 days without approval from lawmakers.
The articles also alleged that Hegseth supervised “extrajudicial killings” during US operations against boats suspected of transporting drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
Speaking at his first Pentagon news briefing in six months, Hegseth dismissed the impeachment move as a “farce” and “sabotage”.
He also described it as a political stunt by an opponent of the Trump administration, arguing that the resolution could undermine national security by signalling to adversaries that the United States would punish its military personnel and civilian leadership for lawful operations.
“This is not patriotism. This is sabotage,” he said.
Hegseth further argued that the allegations against him did not constitute the offences intended by the US Constitution’s impeachment clause, stating, “not high crimes, not misdemeanours, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offences the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause”.
Massie, who lost his re-election bid earlier this year to a Trump-backed challenger, has been a vocal critic of the president and the war in Iran, which began in February.
He had also previously called on the administration to release files relating to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Although the impeachment attempt has been stalled, questions remain over Hegseth’s future in the administration.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said on Tuesday that he expected the defence secretary to resign or be dismissed by Trump.
Massie had argued that removing Hegseth before Republicans lose control of Congress would allow the Senate to confirm a replacement, while Democrats could pursue the impeachment process when they assume control in January.
