Lame-duck Republicans have successfully blocked an attempt to impeach the US Defence Secretary Peter Hegseth for “high crimes and misdemeanours” in relation to the Iran war and extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean.
But the vote in the House, two months before a Democrat wave of midterms winners take their seats, could have gone the other way with the backing of eight of the 11 Democrats who were absent for the vote.
Kentucky Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who lost his party’s nomination for re-election to a Trump pick, had brought the articles of impeachment to the House and sought to push them to a vote.
However the attempt has failed, with a motion passed 211 to 204 on Tuesday to shunt it off to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, effectively killing it.
Eleven Democrats and seven Republicans did not register a vote on the motion.
‘Stuck behind a motorcade’
Democrat absentees included former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi – who reportedly flew back to California before the vote to attend a Veterans Day event and receive a “lifetime advocate” award.
Another Democrat absentee, Lou Correa, said he “vehemently” supported the impeachment but had been forced to stay in California for a medical procedure and his doctor had advised him not to travel.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly flew back to California instead of staying for the vote (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)Several Democrats who were present in Washington blamed traffic delays for not making it to the Capitol in time.
“While en route to the floor to [vote to support the impeachment], a traffic incident and a police-escorted bus caused a delay that resulted in the vote closing before I, along with other Members, could reach the chamber,” Nevadan Democrat Steven Horsford told The Washington Sun.
Illinois Democrat Jonathan Jackson gave the same excuse in a statement on X, and Washington Democrat Marilyn Strickland’s office told a newspaper she was “stuck behind a motorcade and missed the vote by one minute”.
Colorado Democrat Brittany Petterson reportedly said she was “denied the ability to vote” but did not give details.
California Democrat Sydney Kamlager-Dove did not hide her anger at her colleagues afterwards.
“We knew that this vote was coming, so people should have gotten their raggedy selves up these steps to vote,” she told reporters. “There is no reason why we should have lost this vote because of attendance issues.
“[Hegseth was] doing stuff that’s unconstitutional and illegal. So you need to go. So, shame on folks who were not here.”
New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told CNN the representatives who missed the job had been sent to DC “to do a job”.
“The same way I had to clock in when I worked at a restaurant, we got to clock in and do our work here,” she said.
‘Make the argument’
Massie had brought on the vote because, he said, he wanted to force Hegseth to answer to his conduct in office, or to resign.
The articles of impeachment alleged that the Secretary had unlawfully made war with Iran, ordered the murder of Iranian civilians, and ordered the extrajudicial killings of at least 221 people alleged to be smuggling narcotics in the Carribbean, including illegal secondary strikes against shipwrecked survivors.
Anticipating a response from Hegseth he said: “I hope he addresses the articles, and doesn’t just get up and misquote the Bible in Quentin Tarantino fashion and do some pull-ups and, you know, call everybody fat and gay for being [in favour of] this impeachment,” Massie told reporters on Monday.
“I would like to see him go through the eight articles of impeachment and just make the argument from a podium… tell us why you are not guilty.”
‘You hate the president’
Behind a podium at the Pentagon on Tuesday, hours before the vote, Hegseth told reporters the impeachment attempt was “a political spectacle driven by ego and resentment… a farce and a stunt”.
“In the 250 years of our American Republic no Secretary of War, or Secretary of Defence, has ever been impeached for carrying out lawful military operations. And in our case, successful ones at that.”
He said his actions had been lawful and the Massie’s accusations amounted to a “policy disagreement” rather than high crimes and misdemeanours, the level of misconduct required for impeachment.
“Every one” of the military operations “was a lawful operation ordered by the commander in chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress and executed by American warriors who did their jobs.”
Hegseth also accused the media of “never admitting the military success” of US attacks on Iran “because you hate the president more than you love our country or our troops”.
He said US attacks on boats in the Caribbean meant that 218 “narco terrorists” were “dead, where they should be”.
Hegseth then took questions from right-wing media, ignoring questions from NBC and other established news outlets.
Trump scored the press conference, in comments afterwards on social media, an “A plus plus plus” and “a must see!”.
‘Just the beginning’
Before the vote, there had been speculation that some Republicans would sit out of the impeachment over a war whose unpopularity had lost many their seats.
However in the end there were more Democrat absentees than Republicans.
“What I found out tonight is [Republicans] still haven’t broken from the spell of Donald Trump,” Massie said afterwards. “He still controls this conference.”
Republicans had grown more reluctant to back the impeachment after Trump reasserted his support for Hegseth, with some reportedly worried that a successful impeachment would also implicate the president in illegal actions.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries told a Politico reporter he hadn’t “had a conversation with anyone on the floor team about what may or may not have happened”.
However, he added “this is not the end of it, it’s just the beginning”.
Jeffries said he would talk to members about whether to mount a new impeachment effort in the next Congress. “We’ll have that conversation at the appropriate time,” he said.
A Democratic-led push to impeach Hegseth could involve lawmakers calling in generals and admirals fired by Hegseth to testify.
Trump afterwards said the “Democrats” attempt to impeach Hegseth had “miserably failed”.
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