US House blocks bid to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump Claims ‘Exoneration’

US President Donald Trump declared Pete Hegseth exonerated on Tuesday after the Republican-led House voted 211–204 to sideline an impeachment bid against the defence secretary over the Iran war and other US military operations. The seven-vote margin spared Hegseth a direct vote on eight articles of impeachment and gave Trump an opening to lash out at the Republican who brought them, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie.

The House sent Massie’s resolution to the Judiciary Committee, effectively stalling it in the outgoing Congress. Massie was the only Republican to vote against the referral. Eleven Democrats missed the vote, Reuters reported. Their absence mattered in a chamber where Republicans still hold a narrow majority following their midterm losses.

Trump cast the result as the defeat of a Democratic effort, even though Massie, a member of his own party, introduced the resolution. In a Truth Social post, the president called Massie a “major loser” and hailed the “exoneration of a great American patriot”. He credited Hegseth with what he described as victories in Iran and Venezuela and record military recruitment. Trump had earlier told CNN he would stand by Hegseth even if the House impeached him.

How Republicans blocked a floor vote

House Republican leaders and senior White House officials worked behind the scenes to line up votes for the referral, CNN reported, citing multiple sources. That procedural move let Republicans put the resolution aside without requiring members to take a position on each of Massie’s eight charges. The House made no finding on the merits of those allegations.

Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell called the referral a “total victory” and said the department looked forward to seeing the effort end in committee. He dismissed the allegations as a political exercise and defended Hegseth’s record at the Pentagon.

The vote capped a confrontation that had been building since September, when Massie first pushed for impeachment. The Kentucky Republican, who is due to leave Congress in January after losing his primary, said on Monday that he would not bring up another resolution against Hegseth, CBS News reported.

Massie put Trump’s war powers at the centre of the case

Massie accused Hegseth of carrying out military operations without congressional authorisation. The resolution covered US strikes in Iran and Yemen, the operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and strikes on vessels suspected of carrying drugs. The articles also alleged that Hegseth disregarded safeguards for civilians and directed extrajudicial killings. Hegseth rejected the charges and maintained that the operations were lawful.

In a post on X ahead of the vote, Massie singled out Article III of his resolution. He said the Iran campaign, known as Operation Epic Fury, had been underway for 256 days without congressional approval. His argument rested on the War Powers Resolution, which generally requires the president to end covered military operations within 60 days of submitting a report to Congress, or of when one was due, unless Congress authorises the action or another statutory exception applies.

At his first Pentagon press conference in six months, Hegseth called the impeachment effort a “farce” and said he was proud to carry out the commander-in-chief’s orders. He cited military operations under Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden as precedents and argued that the allegations amounted to policy disagreements. He also warned that the campaign against him could expose sailors and pilots who carried out strikes on suspected drug-trafficking vessels to accusations of wrongdoing.

Hegseth invoked Trump’s two first-term impeachments, both of which ended in Senate acquittals, and predicted Massie’s effort would also fail. Trump responded on Truth Social by giving his defence secretary an “A PLUS PLUS PLUS” for his performance at the briefing.

Jeffries signals another fight when Democrats take over

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who had backed the resolution, said the vote would not end scrutiny of Hegseth. Asked about the absences on the Democratic side, he said he had yet to speak to his floor team about what happened. “This is not the end of it, it’s just the beginning,” he said, according to CNN.

Democrats are set to take control of both chambers when the 120th Congress convenes in January. A House majority would give them control of the floor and committee agendas, allowing them to revisit the charges or pursue investigations into the administration’s military decisions. Any renewed impeachment effort would still require a House majority to approve articles and a two-thirds vote in the Senate to convict.

With inputs from ANI