Attempt to impeach Hegseth derailed

TROUBLE IN WASHINGTON: The impeachment bid had threatened to deepen US President Donald Trump’s troubles after Democrats swept last week’s midterms

Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Tuesday blocked an effort to impeach US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth over the Iran war, handing US President Donald Trump a victory days after his party’s crushing midterm election defeat.

The House voted 211 to 204 to send the impeachment resolution to the Judiciary Committee, effectively derailing a planned vote yesterday on whether to bring formal charges against the embattled Pentagon chief.

The resolution was introduced by Republican Thomas Massie, a Trump critic who was the only member of his party to oppose the procedural maneuver, US media reported.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during a news briefing at the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, on Tuesday.

Photo: AFP

The impeachment drive had threatened to deepen Trump’s troubles after Democrats swept last week’s midterms, with anger at the sputtering Iran war and soaring fuel prices helping drive voters to a historic rejection of Republicans.

Republicans still hold a narrow House of Representatives majority until January, when Democrats take control of both chambers of the US Congress. Eleven Democrats missed the vote.

Trump hailed the procedural defeat as an “EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot,” in a post on Truth Social, while Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, in a social media post called the vote a “TOTAL VICTORY!”

“We look forward to ending this sham impeachment in the committee room, where facts will continue to prevail and this distraction can be put to rest,” Parnell added.

Hegseth earlier on Tuesday dismissed the impeachment effort as a “farce” and defended his record leading the Iran war and other military operations under Trump.

“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt, and everybody knows it,” he said at a Pentagon news conference, branding the accusations “slander” and “sabotage.”

Moments after Hegseth’s televised appearance, Trump signaled his support.

“Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS,” the 80-year-old president wrote on his Truth Social platform.

US Vice President J.D. Vance also backed the defense secretary, saying he had “obviously not” committed impeachable offenses.