US House votes to derail impeachment of Defence Secretary Hegseth

Résumé détaillé

US House Republicans block impeachment effort against Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in a 211-204 vote. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The chamber voted 211 to 204 in favour of a motion to refer the impeachment charges to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee.

WASHINGTON – Republicans in the US House of Representatives blocked an effort on Nov 10 to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, winning a reprieve for the polarising Pentagon chief before Democrats take control of Congress in 2027 and possibly try again.

The vote on a procedural motion came just hours after Hegseth blasted efforts to impeach him as a farce and delivered a defiant defence of his record at the helm of the US military, winning praise from President Donald Trump.

The chamber voted 211 to 204 in favour of a motion to refer eight articles of impeachment to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, a move that the sponsor of the impeachment push, US Representative Thomas Massie, warned would kill it.

Massie, an outgoing Kentucky Republican, had hoped to draw votes from Republicans upset with Hegseth’s policies and wary of the unpopularity of the Iran war but no other Republicans joined him.

Democrats had voiced strong support for the impeachment effort but 11 failed to show up to vote.

Trump cheered the vote in a social media post, saying the effort to impeach Hegseth “has miserably FAILED!”

In a sign that the impeachment episode may have drawn Trump and Hegseth closer together, Trump added that Hegseth’s performance on Iran, Venezuela and other issues “led to the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot”.

Hegseth would have been the first US defence secretary to be impeached. The last time any civilian leader of the US military was impeached was in 1876, when William Belknap held the title “secretary of war”.

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