Republican-led House rejects Hegseth impeachment effort

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House on Tuesday narrowly rejected a push to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over how he has carried out the war in Iran and other military hostilities in Yemen, Venezuela and the Caribbean.The vote was 211-204 to send the impeachment resolution to committee, effectively killing the effort.Even vocal GOP critics of Hegseth said they didn’t think that the secretary’s action rose to the level of “high crimes and misdemeanors.”The impeachment resolution was authored by Rep.

Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a fierce critic of Hegseth and President Donald Trump; both helped oust Massie in his GOP primary race earlier this year.Because Massie had filed the motion as “privileged,” Republican leaders were forced to call a vote within two legislative days.Hegseth says the impeachment push against him is a 'farce' and 'stunt'01:50Hegseth “has violated the norms of war, and it’s to the disadvantage and the dishonor of our country, and to the danger of our soldiers in future conflicts,” said Massie, the lone Republican who supported moving to an impeachment vote.“Somebody’s got to put their foot down and say, are we going to follow the laws that are on the books? Are we going to follow the Constitution?” he continued.

“And the best way to do that is to have an impeachment against Pete Hegseth.”House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is on track to be elected speaker in January, has said Democrats will “run Pete Hegseth out of town” when they take over Congress next year.But Hegseth is safe for now, and Trump said he is standing by his Defense secretary, who has clashed with not only Democrats but a handful of Republicans in the Senate and the House.The vote came at the end of a dramatic day in Washington that Hegseth kicked off with a morning news conference at the Pentagon, where he slammed the impeachment as a “political spectacle.”“It’s a farce, and it’s a stunt and everybody knows it,” He...