Summary US House Republicans reject impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, ending efforts to remove him over Iran war handling.
The Republican-led US House of Representatives moved on Tuesday to effectively block an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The move buys Hegseth more time, as Democrats prepare to take control of Congress next year and could potentially revive the impeachment effort.
Here's what happened:
Republicans passed a motion to refer eight articles of impeachment to the House Judiciary Committee, a move that the sponsor of the effort, US Representative Thomas Massie, had warned would effectively kill it.
Massie, an outgoing Kentucky Republican, had hoped to attract support from Republicans who were unhappy with Hegseth's policies and concerned about the unpopularity of the Iran war. Democrats had voiced strong support for the impeachment effort and tried to help him clear the way for a vote on the articles.
The chamber voted 211 to 204 in favor of referring the articles to the committee, with Massie the only Republican to oppose the motion.
After the vote, Massie said he was disappointed but not surprised by how Republicans had voted, calling the outcome a mistake.
The vote came just hours after Hegseth dismissed efforts to impeach him as a "farce" and delivered a defiant defense of his record at the helm of the Pentagon. His remarks drew praise from President Donald Trump, who also celebrated the House vote.
Hegseth repeatedly defended the war in Iran, calling Trump courageous and saying Iran's military had been left in ruins.
He also said his orders to US forces were lawful, despite Massie's accusations of "high crimes and misdemeanors" ranging from the war itself to the US military raid in January that ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
"History will judge the Iran war quite differently than the conventional wisdom right now," Hegseth said.
