US House begins vote on motion to advance impeachment of Pete Hegseth

Résumé détaillé

Hegseth has been accused of spearheading war on Iran without required congressional approval.

Republicans in the United States House of Representatives have nixed an effort to advance the impeachment of Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, following a midterm election in which voters vented frustrations over the Iran war Hegseth has helped spearhead.

The lower house of the US Congress voted in favour of a motion to refer the impeachment charges to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in a procedural vote on Tuesday, effectively killing an effort to remove Hegseth from his position led by Republican Representative Thomas Massie.

That push also won support from Democratic representatives, setting up a test of whether Republican lawmakers would break with the Trump administration and distance themselves from the unpopular war after a rebuke at the polls.

The final vote on Tuesday was 211 in favour and 204 against, with Massie the lone Republican to vote against it. The result means that Republicans will be able to slow-walk the process and can avoid a direct vote on the eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, which cover issues such as the Iran war.

“The Democrats’ attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED!” Trump said in a social media post following the vote. “Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major LOSER, voted in favour of Pete.”

Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s vote, an impeachment conviction in the US Senate, where it would require a two-thirds vote and Republicans have a 53-seat majority, was seen as unlikely.

Massie’s resolution included eight separate articles of impeachment, accusing the combative Pentagon chief of launching an illegal war against Iran without congressional approval and overseeing a campaign of strikes targeting alleged drug trafficking vessels that legal scholars say are extrajudicial killings.

Hegseth has denounced the resolution as “sabotage” and a “farce”, while US President Donald Trump and prominent members of his administration expressed their continued support for him.

Specula…

Début de l'article, extrait de Al Jazeera. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.