WASHINGTON: 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 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.
The vote came just hours after Hegseth blasted the efforts as a farce and delivered a defiant defence of his record at the helm of the US military, winning praise from President Donald Trump.
Massie had hoped to draw votes from lawmakers upset with Hegseth’s policies and wary of the unpopular eight-monthold Iran war, but no other Republicans joined him.
The US-Israeli-led conflict has never been approved by Congress.
Democrats voiced strongsupportforthe articles, which accuse Hegseth of the ‘high crimes and misdemeanours’ of illegally ordering the military to wage war in Iran and Yemen, attack boats in the Caribbean Sea and capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.
However,11Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, did not vote. If eight of them had, the procedural measure would have been defeated, paving the way for a full House impeachment vote.
-Agencies