US House blocks bid to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, for now

The Kentucky congressman also said that removing Hegseth now would give the Senate time to approve a replacement while Republicans were still in power.

Impeachment resolutions can be carried past the end of a congressional term, meaning Democrats would be able to take it up next year.

The Democrats will take control of both chambers of Congress in January following a successful midterm election.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, had predicted earlier in the day that the impeachment bid would fail.

In the eight articles of impeachment formally introduced in the House on Monday, Massie said Hegseth was “breaking the law and must be held accountable” for fighting a war in Iran for more than 90 days without lawmakers’ approval.

The impeachment articles also accused Hegseth of overseeing “extrajudicial killings” in the US campaign against boats alleged to be carrying drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Hegseth called efforts to impeach him a political stunt by a Trump administration opponent who was “disgruntled and defeated”.

Hegseth also argued Massie’s resolution endangered national security, because it communicated to US adversaries “that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations”.

“This is not patriotism. This is sabotage,” he said.

He echoed some statements Trump had made during a surprise appearance at the White House briefing room on Monday, including touting a rise in military recruitment levels.

But Hegseth said Massie was motivated by policy differences and “not high crimes, not misdemeanours, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offences the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause”.

Massie, who lost re-election earlier this year to a Trump-backed opponent, has been critical of Trump and the war in Iran since it began in February.

He had already incurred the president’s ire for demanding the Trump administration release files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

While Hegseth has survived politically for now, many lawmakers – including some Republicans – have questioned how long he can last in the administration.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, said on Tuesday he expected Hegseth to resign or be fired by Trump.