WASHINGTON.- The U.S. House of Representatives voted 211-204 on Tuesday, November 10, to send eight articles of impeachment against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, effectively killing the effort for the remainder of the current Congress. The vote was a procedural referral, not a vote on whether Hegseth should be impeached, and the committee is under no obligation to take up the articles, according to the BBC and GMA News.
The resolution, H. Res. 1655, was filed on Monday by Representative Thomas Massie, a libertarian-leaning Republican from Kentucky, as a question of the privileges of the House, a procedure that forced the chamber to act within two legislative days. Massie read the 34-page resolution from the House floor on Monday. The referral was recorded as Roll Call 317 at 6:02 p.m. Washington time on Tuesday, according to the House Clerk's record.
How the vote broke down
The 211 votes in favor of the referral came from 210 Republicans and one independent, Representative Kevin Kiley of California. The 204 votes against it came from 203 Democrats and Massie, the only Republican to oppose sending the measure to committee, according to the New York Post and Gulf News.
Eighteen lawmakers did not vote: 11 Democrats and seven Republicans. Among the absent Democrats were former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Laura Gillen of New York, Haley Stevens of Michigan and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico. Among the absent Republicans were Monica De La Cruz of Texas, Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, Russell Fry of South Carolina and Julia Letlow of Louisiana.
The absences mattered. Had eight of the 11 Democrats who did not vote opposed the referral, the motion would have failed 211-212 and paved the way for a full House vote on impeachment, according to GMA News. Massie had warned before the vote that referring the resolution to committee would likely end the impeachment push for the rest of this Congress.
What the eight articles allege
The articles accuse Hegseth of high crimes and misdemeanors across several military operations ordered by President Donald Trump. Three concern the war in Iran: initiating unauthorized hostilities, continuing them despite a congressional withdrawal resolution, and disregarding the War Powers Resolution's termination provisions, according to the New York Post.
The remaining articles allege disregard for laws meant to limit civilian casualties; "extrajudicial killings" in strikes against suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific, citing at least 243 deaths; retaliation against Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona over a video telling troops they may refuse illegal orders; an unauthorized operation to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores; and an unlawful military campaign against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
These are Massie's allegations, not findings. The House did not vote on the merits of any of the eight articles, and the referral neither dismisses the charges nor finds them unsubstantiated.
Hegseth's defiant defense
Hours before the vote, Hegseth delivered a defiant defense of his record at a Pentagon briefing on Tuesday, calling the impeachment push a "farce" and "sabotage" and winning praise from President Trump.
"I stand behind every one of these operations. I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow," he told reporters, according to the New York Post. "For the first time in American history, a cabinet secretary overseeing America's military is being attacked not for losing conflicts with our enemies, but for winning them. Condemned not for defeat, but for military victory."
Hegseth argued the case was about policy, not crime: "That's what it is. Policy disagreements, not high crimes, not misdemeanors, not treason, not bribery, not the kinds of offenses the founders intended when they wrote the impeachment clause. The proper remedy for a policy disagreement. It's legislation. It's debate." He also predicted that history "will judge the Iran war quite differently than conventional wisdom," and called Massie a "rogue legislator" for leading the effort.
The clash between the two men is personal as well as political. In May, Hegseth made an unusual trip to Kentucky to campaign against Massie in his primary race, a step Pentagon chiefs normally avoid. "Too often Massie's instinct is to throw elbows at fellow Republicans instead of the people who are destroying our country," Hegseth said at a rally against Massie. "In the middle of a fight, you don't weaken your own side."
Trump celebrates, Democrats look to January
President Trump celebrated the outcome on Truth Social. "The Democrats' attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED! Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major LOSER, voted in favor of Pete," the president wrote, calling it the "EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot," according to the New York Post.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had predicted earlier on Tuesday that the bid would fail, expressing confidence that Republicans had the votes to quash it. In September, Republican leadership was believed to have adjourned the House early to avoid having to take a vote on Massie's impeachment effort at all.
But the reprieve may be short. The 119th Congress ends on January 3, and an impeachment resolution not adopted by then does not carry over into the next Congress. Democrats take control of the House in January with their largest majority this century, and also control of the Senate, and have signaled they could try again. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries described himself as a "hard yes on the Hegseth resolution," teasing that Democrats could revive the effort, according to the New York Post. Massie told the BBC he was "not surprised" by Tuesday's outcome but had previously acknowledged the motion might not succeed immediately.
A rare case in American history
Only two cabinet secretaries have been impeached in U.S. history: former Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the border crisis in 2024, and former Secretary of War William Belknap over bribery accusations in 1876. The Senate declined a trial over Mayorkas, and Belknap was acquitted by the upper chamber.
Even if the House had impeached Hegseth, removal would have required a two-thirds vote of senators present in the Senate. With the referral to the Judiciary Committee, that question is shelved, at least until the new Congress takes its seats in January.
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Sources: New York Post, November 10, 2026; GMA News, November 11, 2026; BBC via The Indian Express, November 11, 2026; Gulf News, November 11, 2026; Financial Express, November 11, 2026. Cover photo: Pete Hegseth, official portrait as Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0).