House blocks Hegseth impeachment bid as 11 Democrats miss vote

The U.S. House of Representatives blocked an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, voting 211-204 to send the impeachment articles to the Judiciary Committee. Eleven Democrats missed the vote; if eight of them had joined their colleagues in opposing the referral, the motion would have failed.

The vote was procedural, not a decision on whether to impeach Hegseth. It leaves the articles in committee, where they could remain for the rest of the current Congress. Democrats are set to take control of both the House and Senate on January 3.

Republican Representative Thomas Massie introduced the eight articles of impeachment, accusing Hegseth of abuses of power and illegal military operations. The allegations include claims that the defense secretary repeatedly violated the Constitution through his handling of the Iran war and other conflicts. Hegseth’s department rejected the articles as baseless.

Massie was the only Republican to vote against sending the articles to committee. Democrats who voted opposed the referral. Massie called it “a procedural motion to kill the resolution.” Afterward, he compared Republicans to passengers willing to remain aboard a doomed ship: “They know it’s a sinking ship but committed to stay on board.”

Eighteen House members missed the vote: 11 Democrats and seven Republicans. The absent Democrats were Julia Brownley, Lou Correa, Nancy Pelosi, Laura Gillen, Steven Horsford, Jonathan Jackson, Brittany Pettersen, Melanie Stansbury, Haley Stevens, Marilyn Strickland and Frederica Wilson.

According to Al Jazeera, Strickland, Jackson, Stansbury and Gillen cited a traffic delay in Washington. Pelosi said she was in California for a veterans event, Correa said he was there ahead of a health procedure, and Horsford’s office cited a personal emergency. Pettersen said she had been “denied the ability to vote on this motion” but did not explain why. Seven of the absent Democrats said they would have voted against the referral; Al Jazeera reported no immediate comment from Stevens, Brownley or Wilson about their absences.

The missed votes drew criticism from California congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove. “We knew that this vote was coming, so people should have gotten their raggedy selves up these steps to vote,” she said. “There is no reason why we should have lost this vote because of attendance issues.”

President Donald Trump celebrated what he called the “EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot” and said the impeachment effort had “miserably FAILED!” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell described the referral as “total victory for Secretary Hegseth, the Department of War, and the American warfighter.”

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he would consult members about another impeachment effort after the new Congress takes office. “We’ll have that conversation at the appropriate time,” he said.

A future House vote to impeach would not itself remove Hegseth. Removal would require a Senate conviction supported by at least two-thirds of senators.