House Votes 211-204 to Send Hegseth Impeachment to Judiciary Committee, Effectively Ending It This Congress

Since Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., filed eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday, Nov. 9, the push has gone from a privileged resolution to a stalled one in barely a day. The House voted 211-204 on Tuesday evening, Nov. 10, to refer it to the Judiciary Committee.

Massie was the lone Republican to vote against the procedural motion. He joined all Democrats present in the losing vote, and no other Republican crossed over.

What the vote does

Because Massie filed the measure as privileged, Republican leaders had to bring it to the floor within two legislative days. They used that vote to bury it instead. Axios reported that the vote effectively kills any effort to impeach Hegseth this Congress.

The House has impeached only two Cabinet secretaries in U.S. history.

Hegseth's morning counteroffensive

Hours before the vote, Hegseth held a press conference at the Pentagon. His parents and brother sat in the audience.

"What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, and it's not accountability," he said. "It's a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment."

He called the resolution "a farce" and "a stunt, and everybody knows it." He described the dispute as one over policy, not "high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery," and said the proper remedy is "legislation, it's debate, it's the next presidential election."

Hegseth compared the effort to the Democratic-led impeachments of President Trump. "If standing with President Trump puts me in that company, I'll take that company every day of the week," he said.

On the school strike in Minab, Iran, which the fourth article cites, he said: "As to the claim that the American military targets civilians, well, that is a lie, and that is a slander."

Trump posted on Truth Social that Hegseth "gets an 'A' PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!"

What Massie alleges

Massie's eight articles center on several of the administration's most controversial national security decisions. Three accuse Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution during the war against Iran. Others cover the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, the Minab school strike, and the alleged retaliation against Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., over a video urging service members to refuse unlawful orders.

Massie alleges that Hegseth initiated hostilities without congressional authorization, continued military operations after Congress directed their termination and disregarded statutory deadlines requiring the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

The fourth article cites the Minab school strike. Reason reported that the Feb. 28 attack hit the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School and put the death toll between 150 and 200 civilians; it cited Drop Site News for a figure of 156 people killed, including 120 children, and noted other sources place the count higher. The fifth article accuses Hegseth of "extrajudicial killings" over the boat strikes.

"The question is whether he committed impeachable acts," Massie wrote on X Monday. "And the answer is yes, eight times."

Outside the Capitol on Monday, Massie said of the Minab strike: "There's no fog of war on the first day! You've had months to identify these targets, yet they picked a school building on a school day with kids in it, and then struck it again, and then struck it again."

Massie lost his Republican primary earlier this year to Trump-backed Ed Gallrein and will leave Congress in January, according to the Daily Wire.

Critics of Hegseth who still rejected impeachment

The vote did not split Republicans on whether Hegseth's critics have a point. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, who opposes the administration's involvement in Iran, said: "I think it's an effort to scapegoat Pete Hegseth for Congress shirking their own duty and, frankly, the president taking action that, in my view, is unconstitutional."

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a vocal Hegseth critic, said: "I'm personally not a fan of the secretary. I don't think he was the right guy in the job. But, also, when you read Massie's impeachment, I don't agree with it."

Rep. Jake Ellzey, R-Texas, called the effort "a ridiculous waste of time."

Constitutional law scholar Jonathan Turley argued that six of Massie's eight articles "should be nonstarters, including the Iranian articles," noting that presidents of both parties have claimed broad authority to launch military operations without congressional approval.

Vice President JD Vance wrote on X: "Has Pete Hegseth committed impeachable crimes? The question is absurd and the answer is: obviously not." Breitbart reported that Vance has stated a belief that Republicans lost in the midterms because of the war with Iran; Hegseth declined to engage in finger-pointing when asked about it.

Fox News reported that Republicans had been worried about absences after their midterm election performance last week.

What comes next

In a post reported by The Hill, Massie wrote that his resolution is "a much gentler version of what's coming when Dem's control Congress. They'll have hearings & trials."

Rep.-elect Nancy Lacore, a former three-star Navy admiral whom Hegseth fired last year, won South Carolina's 1st District and takes office in January. She called Hegseth "the most unqualified secretary that this nation has seen" on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday.

Axios noted that the first impeachment of a Cabinet secretary during the second Trump era and a Democratic-led Congress both loom.