House Republicans voted to reject efforts by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and the Democrats to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
In a 211-204 vote, House Republicans voted to have Massie’s impeachment resolution referred to the House Judiciary Committee, Fox News’s Bill Melugin reported in a post on X.
The move to refer the impeachment resolution to the committee “ends efforts to impeach Hegseth over the Iran war and other issues until the next Congress,” the Hill reported.
While Massie voted with the Democrats, Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA) voted with the Republicans, according to the outlet.
Earlier in the day, Vice President JD Vance issued a statement defending Hegseth, expressing that “impeachment has become a ridiculous show that stands in for actual policymaking.”
“Has Pete Hegseth committed impeachable crimes? The question is absurd and the answer is: obviously not,” Vance wrote in a post on X. “Like so much of Congress, impeachment has become a ridiculous show that stands in for actual policymaking. Congress has so many tools for registering its policy disagreements. Rather than use them, they’re going to try to impeach Pete Hegseth. They did the same to Donald Trump.”
Prior to Vance’s statement, Hegseth defended actions that he has taken regarding “the conflict with Iran,” along with “the extraction of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.”
“It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment,” Hegseth during a press conference.
