House effort to impeach Hegseth fails, largely along party lines

Detailed summary

The rare effort to impeach a Cabinet secretary comes in the wake of a withering midterm election defeat for Republicans. Yet GOP ranks stuck with the ...

The rare effort to impeach a Cabinet secretary comes in the wake of a withering midterm election defeat for Republicans. Yet GOP ranks stuck with the Trump administration.

Americans’ frustration with the Iran war helped drive a historic Democratic victory in last week’s midterms. And as lawmakers began a lame-duck session, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has overseen a conflict that Congress did not authorize, was fighting to hold on to his job amid impeachment charges tied to that war and other military decisions.

After a House vote Tuesday derailed the impeachment effort, President Donald Trump called Mr. Hegseth a “great American patriot” in a social media post and said Democrats “must be stopped.”

Congressional lawmakers from both parties have criticized Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for executing unlawful orders related to the Iran war, the capture of Venezuela’s president and more. He defends the actions that sparked scrutiny in Congress.

An outgoing Republican House member, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, introduced eight articles of impeachment against Secretary Hegseth. This week, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, widely expected to become House speaker after the new Congress begins in January, told ABC News he was a “hard yes” for impeachment. And on Monday, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said on a podcast that Mr. Hegseth faced two outcomes: Either he leaves by resignation or firing, or it is “extremely likely” he will be impeached.

But late on Monday, President Trump defended Mr. Hegseth, using social media to call on lawmakers to “stand up for Pete!!!”

House Republicans did so, thwarting the impeachment effort as a 211-204 vote sent Mr. Massie’s articles to the Judiciary Committee. Eleven Democrats were absent for the procedural vote, and all Republicans except Mr. Massie supported the motion to refer.

“I’d really like to understand why 11 Democrats don’t show up,” said Democratic Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut.

Democrats don’t appear to have…

Opening of the article, excerpted from The Christian Science Monitor. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.