(The Center Square) – After strenuous White House opposition, an attempt to impeach Secretary of War Peter Hegseth failed in a 211-204 vote Tuesday evening.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who introduced the impeachment resolution, was the only Republican to join Democrats in opposing a motion to refer the articles to committee, effectively killing it.
Though Hegseth maintains his position for now, congressional Democrats, who will hold a significant majority in the U.S. House in the upcoming 120th Congress, as well as a smaller majority in the Senate, could revisit the matter when they take control of Congress in January.
Massie previously told reporters that his impeachment articles are “being polite” because impeachment carries no legal or financial penalties. Democrats, he warned, “are going to be very vicious.”
At a news conference earlier in the day, Hegseth called the impeachment attempt “a farce.”
“What one disgruntled and defeated Congressman is attempting is not oversight and it’s not accountability,” Hegseth told reporters, as The Center Square previously reported. “It’s a political spectacle.”
Notably, 11 Democrats were absent. With seven Republicans also absent, Democrats would have had the numbers to block the measure and advance the impeachment articles had they all been present.
Democratic Reps. Julia Brownley, Nancy Pelosi, and Lou Correa from California; Laura Gillen from New York; Brittany Pettersen from Colorado; Steven Horsford from Nevada; Melanie Stansbury from New Mexico; Jonathan Jackson from Illinois; Marilyn Strickland from Washington; Frederica Wilson from Florida; and Haley Stevens from Michigan all missed the vote, with only Correa notifying lawmakers beforehand that he would miss the vote due to a medical procedure.
In social media posts, Stansbury, Gillen, and Jackson all cited heavy traffic as the cause of their absence, despite all lawmakers receiving an 18-hour advance notice of the vote. Peterson posted that she was “denied the ability to vote” but offered no clarification. Horsford, in a Wednesday social media post, said that a “personal emergency” delayed him. Some, like Stevens, haven’t provided an explanation.
The Center Square reached out to the press offices of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., for comment, but neither responded in time for the article’s publication.
Massie’s eight articles of impeachment accused Hegseth of having “abused the powers of the Department of Defense” in multiple ways, particularly by executing “unlawful orders” to strike Iran without congressional authorization.
The War Powers Act of 1973 gives the president 60 days to conduct military operations without congressional approval. When that deadline passed, the Trump administration declared a temporary ceasefire, a move which Hegseth said reset the 60-day clock.
By the time the U.S. and Iran signed a 60-day peace framework in mid-June – which Iran promptly violated – Congress had passed a war powers resolution ordering a halt of further military conflict in Iran.
The Pentagon ignored the edict, and the conflict continues.
According to Pentagon estimates, 21 U.S. service members have died and at least 865 U.S. service members have suffered injuries in Iran since February.