How bid to impeach US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth failed in House

The bid to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has failed in the US House of Representatives. The impeachment notice was moved in the House by Republican congressman Thomas Massie. He accused Hegseth of waging war on Iran without congressional authorisation and misusing his official position.

The House majority has agreed to refer the impeachment articles to a separate committee instead. Only Massie voted against sending the resolution to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, reported the BBC.

Hegseth later described the effort to impeach him as “farce” and “sabotage”.

BREAKING: House Republicans voted 211-204 to refer Rep. Thomas Massie’s impeachment resolution against Secretary of War Hegseth to the House Judiciary Committee, effectively killing the measure. Massie was the only Republican to vote with Democrats. https://t.co/CT8VwImIJ6

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) November 10, 2026

The bid to remove Hegseth, one of US President Donald Trump’s closest aides, failed in a 211-204 vote. Several Representatives skipped vote. This included 11 Democrats.

While there is a certain amount of dissidence within the Republicans after the Midterms drubbing, the bid to remove Hegseth from his Cabinet post was in itself a long shot as a majority of Republicans would have been needed to directly go against Trump for it to succeed.

Trump calls Hegseth ‘a Great American Patriot’

Celebrating the backfired impeachment bid, Trump in a post on Truth Social, said the move “has miserably FAILED”.

“Again, Victories in Venezuela and Iran, the Best Recruitment Numbers in the History of the Military (Long waiting lists to get in!), and Spirit like rarely seen before, led to the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot,” Trump said.

ㅤ

What did Massie accuse Hegseth of?

Massie formally introduced eight articles of impeachment on Monday, alleging that Hegseth had illegally continuing military action against Iran for more than 90 days without congrssional approval.

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The articles also accused him of overseeing alleged “extrajudicial killings” during US operations targeting boats suspected of transporting drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

Massie said Hegseth must be held accountable for his actions. Before the vote, Massie had said: “Pete Hegseth been effective at breaking the law and violating the Constitution.”

The congressman has been opposing Trump’s handling of the Iran war since it began in February. He lost his re-election bid earlier this year to Ed Gallrein, who was backed by Trump.

Massie had previously earned Trump’s ire by pressing his administration to release records relating to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.