Washington(National Times)- Republicans in the US House of Representatives blocked an effort on Tuesday to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, winning a reprieve for the polarising Pentagon chief before Democrats take control of Congress next year and possibly try again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Massie, an outgoing Kentucky Republican, had hoped to draw votes from Republicans upset with Hegseth\u2019s policies and wary of the unpopularity of the war on Iran, but no other Republicans joined him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats had voiced strong support for the impeachment effort. But 11 Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, did not vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If eight of them had, the procedural measure would have been defeated, paving the way for a full House impeachment vote. Pelosi\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why she missed the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump cheered the results in a social media post, saying the effort to impeach Hegseth \u201chas miserably FAILED!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a sign that the impeachment episode may have drawn Trump and Hegseth closer together, Trump added that Hegseth\u2019s performance on Iran, Venezuela and other issues \u201cled to the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201csecretary of war\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hegseth calls himself secretary of war, part of his effort to rebrand a military he said was too weak and \u201cwoke\u201d when he took office last year. Trump cannot change the name of the Defence Department without approval from Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iran war anger
Voter anger over the war on Iran, which has settled into an effective stalemate focused on securing the Strait of Hormuz, helped Democrats win control of Congress in last week\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Reuters\/Ipsos poll published on Tuesday found a majority of Americans want the newly elected Democratic-majority US Congress, which takes office in January, to act to end the war once and for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Vice President JD Vance has publicly questioned the war and blamed it for the Republicans\u2019 midterm rout, he voiced support for Hegseth on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t about Iran, this is about the fact that Pete took on the bureaucracy at the Pentagon,\u201d Vance wrote on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the vote, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Monday: \u201cPete Hegseth has abused his power, undermined America\u2019s national security, and he\u2019s the architect of the reckless and costly failed war of choice in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hegseth has repeatedly defended the conflict, calling Trump courageous and saying Iran\u2019s military has been left in ruins. He also said his orders to US forces were lawful, despite Massie\u2019s accusations of \u201chigh crimes and misdemeanours\u201d ranging from the war itself to the US military raid in January to depose Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHistory will judge the Iran war quite differently than the conventional wisdom right now,\u201d Hegseth said on Tuesday at his first Pentagon briefing in six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeffries said he would talk to members about whether to mount a new impeachment effort in the next Congress. \u201cWe\u2019ll have that conversation at the appropriate time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Democratic-led push to impeach Hegseth could be far more intense, with lawmakers calling in top brass to testify, including generals and admirals fired by Hegseth who have remained silent so far. Hegseth, who has railed against diversity efforts at the Pentagon, fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who is Black, and the Navy\u2019s top admiral, a woman, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In such an effort, Democrats could also raise other issues concerning to voters including Pentagon policy toward Ukraine and the US military\u2019s strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in Caribbean and Pacific waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some Republicans say Hegseth\u2019s strained relations with Congress are becoming a political liability as the Trump administration seeks a huge increase in the military\u2019s budget to $1.5 trillion from $950 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Massie said he was disappointed by the vote, comparing Republicans to passengers content to go down with the Titanic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey know it\u2019s a sinking ship but committed to stay on board,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington(National Times)- Republicans in the US House of Representatives blocked an effort on Tuesday to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, winning a reprieve for the polarising Pentagon chief before Democrats take control of Congress next year and possibly try again. The vote on a procedural motion came just hours after Hegseth blasted efforts to impeach […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n