House Blocks Hegseth Impeachment in 211–204 Vote, Shelving the Effort for This Congress
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives voted 211 to 204 on Tuesday evening to send eight articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the House Judiciary Committee, effectively blocking the effort for the remainder of this Congress.
The procedural vote, held at 6:02 p.m., came on a motion offered by Representative Darrell Issa, Republican of California, shortly after 5:30 p.m. The House never voted on the articles themselves. Instead, the referral parked the resolution in a Republican-led committee with less than two months left in the current Congress, and no floor vote on impeachment will follow in this session.
The vote was the first real test of the divisions inside the Republican Party over the war with Iran and the Pentagon’s leadership since the party’s sweeping losses in the midterm elections. It ended, for now, the most serious attempt ever made to remove a sitting defense secretary through impeachment.
A Seven-Vote Margin, Decided by Absences
The margin was seven votes — and the absences mattered as much as the votes cast.
Representative Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who filed the resolution, was the only Republican to vote against sending it to committee. All 203 Democrats who voted joined him in opposing the referral. The motion passed with 210 Republicans and one independent, Representative Kevin Kiley of California.
Eighteen members did not vote at all: 11 Democrats and seven Republicans. According to Reuters, the motion would have failed if just eight of the absent Democrats had been present and voted against it. Had it failed, the House could have moved to votes on the articles themselves as soon as Wednesday, CBS News reported.
Among the absent Democrats was former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who had returned to San Francisco for an annual event honoring military veterans. Her spokesman said she would have voted against the referral had she been present. Several of the absent Democrats blamed traffic, the BBC reported.
The vote also exposed how narrow the Republican majority has become in the lame-duck session. Democratic leaders did not whip the vote, CBS News reported, and the outcome turned on members who simply were not in the chamber.
What the Eight Articles Alleged
Massie, an anti-war Republican and one of President Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics in Congress, had forced a House vote on the articles by filing them as a privileged resolution on Monday. Once filed, House leaders had up to two legislative days to act — either on the articles themselves or on a motion to send them to committee.
The 34-page resolution contained eight articles of impeachment. Its central charge was that Hegseth waged the war in Iran without congressional authorization, violating the War Powers Resolution, and continued hostilities past its 60-day limit. The articles also accused Hegseth of ignoring laws meant to limit civilian casualties, engaging in a cover-up, and violating human rights.
The resolution further charged that Hegseth illegally ordered fatal strikes on boats suspected of carrying drugs in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, and that he acted without congressional authorization in military operations in Yemen and in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. It also accused him of abusing his power by using a Pentagon investigation to retaliate against Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona.
The articles are allegations, not findings. No court or inspector general has ruled on them, and Hegseth has not been charged with any crime.
The Boat Strikes at the Center of the Case
The lethal strikes on suspected drug boats formed one of the most contested parts of the case against Hegseth. At least 21 people have been killed in four strikes since September, according to the BBC. The strikes were ordered to sink vessels said to be carrying narcotics, though no evidence has been provided that the boats targeted were carrying drugs.
Hegseth has previously acknowledged ordering a second strike on one boat, saying it was necessary to “neutralise a threat,” and has called allegations of a war crime “fake news.”
Massie has said the resolution was a bipartisan effort to restore Congress’s war-making powers and that Hegseth deserved due process. The resolution was backed by 20 Democrats. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become the next speaker after Democrats won control of Congress in the midterms, had said on November 8: “I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution. Pete Hegseth has got to go.”
Massie first introduced a nearly identical resolution on September 15 and read it aloud on the House floor for more than an hour. Speaker Mike Johnson then sent lawmakers home early, delaying a vote until after the midterms. Massie refiled the articles on Monday and read the resolution on the floor again that evening.
Trump and Johnson Rally Behind Hegseth
The White House formally opposed the resolution and urged Republicans to send it to committee. Trump has defended Hegseth throughout the effort and denounced Massie, whom he has repeatedly attacked since the congressman lost his Republican primary to a Trump-backed challenger earlier this year. Massie leaves Congress in January.
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After the vote, Trump praised his defense secretary in a post shared by Hegseth on X, calling him “one of the greatest Secretaries of War in history.” Hegseth replied: “God bless President Trump and America.”
Johnson, who had predicted earlier in the day that the motion would succeed, told CBS News that “impeaching a Cabinet secretary right now … in the middle of hostilities abroad would be a terrible, terrible look.”
Hegseth defended himself at the Pentagon on Tuesday and has rejected the effort as a political attack on policy decisions. In a video address on November 5, he called Massie a “disgruntled, defeated congressman” who had joined with Democrats to file “sham articles of impeachment against yours truly.”
CBS News also reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, that Trump has been asking advisers in person and by phone whether Hegseth should keep his job after the midterm losses. Asked by CBS News whether he is considering removing Hegseth, the president said he is not.
Why This Matters
The vote mattered for three reasons. First, it was the closest Congress has come in modern history to impeaching a defense secretary. Had the articles reached the floor, Hegseth would have been the first civilian defense chief to face a House impeachment vote since Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876.
Second, it measured the depth of Republican unease over the Iran war. The conflict has divided the party since the midterm elections, which Trump and Vice President JD Vance have attributed in part to the war and to rising gas prices. Some Republicans have urged the White House to replace Hegseth before Democrats take control of Congress in January. That only one Republican, the resolution’s own author, voted against the referral shows how firmly the party’s leadership held its members together — at least on a procedural vote.
Third, the vote did not settle the underlying disputes. The allegations about the boat strikes, the war’s legal basis, and the detention of a foreign leader remain unanswered in any formal proceeding. The administration says the operations were lawful; critics in both parties say Congress never authorized them.
What Happens Next
The articles now sit with the Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio. With Republicans in control of the House and its committees until early January, the committee is not expected to advance them, and the current Congress ends on January 3, 2027.
But the matter is unlikely to disappear. Democrats take control of the House in January, and Representative Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat, said after the vote that Democrats “will revisit this” and that “next year, we’ll have a majority.” The BBC notes that impeachment resolutions can be carried past the end of a congressional term, meaning Democrats would be able to take the resolution up again next year.
Massie, for his part, said he will not file another impeachment resolution — but he plans to force a vote on a war powers resolution instead, which would seek to reassert Congress’s authority over military action. That fight, unlike the impeachment effort, would not require the support of Democratic leaders to reach the floor.
For Hegseth, the immediate danger has passed. Whether the reprieve lasts into the new Congress will depend on what Democrats choose to do with their majority — and on whether the war that prompted the impeachment effort produces new controversies of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the House actually vote on?
The House did not vote on whether to impeach Pete Hegseth. It voted 211 to 204 on a procedural motion to send Representative Thomas Massie’s eight-article impeachment resolution to the House Judiciary Committee. The referral stopped the resolution from reaching a direct vote on the House floor.
Does the vote mean Hegseth was cleared of the allegations?
No. Nobody voted on whether the allegations are true. The vote was a procedural step, and the articles remain accusations, not findings. Hegseth denies wrongdoing and calls the allegations partisan policy disagreements rather than impeachable offenses.
What happens to the impeachment effort now?
The resolution is stalled in the Republican-led Judiciary Committee, and the current Congress ends on January 3, 2027. Democrats, who take control of the House in January, say they will revisit the matter. Massie says he will not file another impeachment resolution, but he plans to force a vote on a war powers resolution instead.
Why did 11 Democrats miss the vote?
Eleven Democrats and seven Republicans were absent for the roll call. Several of the absent Democrats blamed traffic, according to the BBC. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was among those absent; her spokesman said she had returned to San Francisco for a veterans event and would have voted against the referral. Reuters reported that eight more votes against the motion would have defeated it.
Sources
- U.S. House Clerk, Roll Call 317 (Nov. 10, 2026) — https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2026317
- Reuters — House votes to derail Hegseth impeachment effort
- BBC News — US House blocks bid to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth
- CBS News — House blocks Massie’s effort to impeach Hegseth
- NPR — House votes to effectively end the impeachment effort against Pete Hegseth
- The Guardian — House Republicans block Hegseth impeachment bid in 211-204 vote
