Eleven Democrats and seven Republicans did not vote to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on November 10. The ayes had 211 votes while the nays managed 204, with 18 people not voting, the US House of Representatives records showed. The motion for impeachment was brought by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie but was quashed by Republicans.
Hegseth faced an impeachment motion for US military actions in the Middle East and Latin America. The move by House Republicans means that Massie’s efforts stand killed till Democrats take over the US Congress in January 2027.
Who are the seven Republicans who did not vote?
Trump said that Hegseth had won two wars, even as his own Vice President JD Vance appeared to blame the war in Iran for the Republicans’ poor election performance. It has also seen the rapid depletion of key munitions due to the conflict in the Middle East. the president has come out strongly in support of the former Fox News host While there was speculation of President Donald Trump removing Hegseth from the Defense Secretary role after Republicans took a drubbing in the US midterm elections. Hegseth, meanwhile, had called a Pentagon news conference early Tuesday where he cast the impeachment motion as a politicized attack on US troops and on lawful military operations ordered by Trump. Hegseth has also reportedly irritated key members of Congress with his lack of transparency about the progress of the war, its cost and its casualties, Bloomberg noted.
Hegseth’s tenure has also been marked by pushing out high-ranking officers, rhetorical attacks on “woke” diversity initiatives and transgender troops.
