By Indianara Goz
Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of War, is out of immediate danger. On Tuesday night, the Republican majority in the US House of Representatives blocked an impeachment vote proposed by Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, avoiding a showdown that could have ended with Hegseth being removed from office.
The move was simple. The House voted 211 to 204 to send the resolution to the Judiciary Committee, which in practice killed the proposal. Without that vote, the full House would have had to decide on impeachment as early as Wednesday.
Eight articles against the secretary
Massie's resolution is broad. It includes eight articles of impeachment accusing Hegseth of misusing his office on several issues, including the war with Iran, American strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean, and retaliation against Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, after a video in which Kelly urged members of the military to disobey “illegal orders.”
To bring the measure to a vote, Massie used a privileged resolution, a procedure that forces the House to consider a case on a short timeline and bypasses the wishes of party leadership. That is what angered the Republican leadership, which tried to stop the process.
Fear of empty seats on the floor
Before the vote, Republicans were genuinely worried. After a heavy defeat in the midterm elections, the party feared absences on the floor that could open the way for impeachment. House Speaker Mike Johnson secured another win before leaving his leadership post.
Democrats united, Republicans divided
All Democrats present supported moving forward with the process. Among Republicans, only Massie voted to continue. The rest of the party voted to kill the resolution.
Representative Jake Ellzey of Texas said he would vote against it and called the initiative “a ridiculous waste of time.” He also questioned how many Republicans would be present for the final vote.
Even lawmakers critical of Hegseth hesitated. Representative Warren Davidson of Ohio argued that the initiative tries to make the secretary a scapegoat for a Congress that, in his view, is failing to do its own duty. Davidson also considers the president's action in the Iran case unconstitutional, but said the episode is not unprecedented in American history. Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, an open critic of Hegseth, said he does not consider Hegseth the right person for the job, but opposes impeachment.
Hegseth responds, calling it a spectacle
At a press conference on Tuesday, Hegseth attacked Massie directly. “What a disgruntled, defeated congressman is trying to do is not oversight, and it is not accountability. It is a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” he said.
What comes next
With the resolution sent to the Judiciary Committee, the case leaves the floor and enters a slower phase, with no vote scheduled. Democrats in opposition say the Republican maneuver was a way of protecting the secretary. Supporters of the government's side argue it confirms that the accusations do not justify impeachment.
Background: The House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the US Congress, where impeachment proceedings begin. A privileged resolution is a fast-track tool that lawmakers can use to force a vote on certain matters.
