11 Democratic absences left the articles short of required votes
The House voted 211-204 on Tuesday to refer Pete Hegseth’s articles of impeachment to the House Judiciary Committee, according to The Guardian’s live political report. The motion, which Republicans advanced to block the current effort, passed largely along party lines. Top Democrats had announced support for the resolution before the vote.
Rep. Thomas Massie was the sole Republican to oppose the referral, joining all Democrats who voted. The Daily Beast reported that 11 Democratic representatives skipped the vote, including Nancy Pelosi. The Guardian said the measure could have proceeded if eight of those representatives had voted with their fellow Democrats.
Massie compared the GOP with passengers content to go down with the Titanic. “They know it’s a sinking ship but committed to stay on board,” he said. Massie, a Republican congressman who lost his primary after breaking with President Donald Trump, was the only GOP member to oppose the procedural move.
The vote came a week after Republicans lost control of the Senate and House in what The Guardian called their worst midterm election in more than a half century. The report said the outcome underscored lawmakers’ wariness about crossing Trump, who had signaled continued support for Hegseth.
Donald Trump, who has been impeached twice, celebrated what he called the “EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot.” He also criticized Massie for forcing the vote, writing on Truth Social: “The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States of America,” and adding: “They must be stopped!”
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, wrote in a social media post: “The referral of these baseless impeachment articles to the House judiciary committee marks total victory for Secretary Hegseth, the Department of War, and the American warfighter,” he said.
House Democratic leader Hakeen Jeffries said he would speak with members about whether to mount a new impeachment effort in the next Congress in January, when Democrats who triumphed in the midterm are to take their seats. “We’ll have that conversation at the appropriate time,” he said.
Other developments in the live report
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, described by The Guardian as a Republican hardliner, won a closed-door election to become the next House minority leader. Jordan defeated current majority leader Steve Scalise 106-73. Jordan would replace current House speaker Mike Jonson, who said he would not run for the post when Republicans cede House control to Democrats in the new year.
Republicans in the Senate re-elected Sen. John Thune of North Dakota to serve as minority leader in the next Congress. Thune did not face a challenger in the closed-door vote, while Democrats prepared to begin the new Congress with at least a 10-seat majority.
Nine members of the Kennedy family sued the Trump administration to block construction of a planned 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington national cemetery. The family’s complaint said the arch would obstruct the Kennedy gravesites, the JFK Eternal Flame and the sightlines of the cemetery, “permanently diminishing these memorials.”
A federal judge also allowed Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the BBC to proceed. Trump is seeking $10bn from Britain’s publicly funded broadcaster over an edited clip that made it appear that Trump told his supporters to storm the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
For Hegseth, the immediate result was that the current articles failed, while Jeffries left the possibility of another effort for discussion in January.