The House of Representatives referred a measure to impeach U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to a committee on Tuesday, effectively blocking the effort to remove the Trump cabinet official.
The motion carried on a mostly party-line vote, 211-204.
The House Judiciary Committee acts as the primary legal and constitutional oversight body of the House. It has the authority to handle articles of impeachment. Historically, it settled impeachment resolutions for presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voiced her frustration over the close margin vote, after not all state representatives attended the occasion.
“I don’t know why people weren’t here. Someone may have a health issue. I don’t know. But obviously, having a vote like that on attendance is hard. That hurts,” CNN quoted her as telling reporters.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who introduced the articles of impeachment against Hegseth, was the only Republican to vote against it. Democrats uniformly voted against the motion.
The vote was an early test of whether Republicans might seek to break with President Trump over the Iran war after the crushing midterm defeat that the GOP suffered in the midterm elections last week.
The eight articles of impeachment that Massie laid against Hegseth accused the secretary of defense of waging an illegal war against Iran, among other “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Democrats’ attempt to impeach Hegseth “miserably failed.”
“Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major LOSER, voted in favor of Pete,” the president said. “Again, victories in Venezuela and Iran, the best recruitment numbers in the history of the military (long waiting lists to get in!), and spirit like rarely seen before, led to the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot.”
New data released by the U.S. Defense Department on Nov. 2 showed strong recruiting growth for the third consecutive year, with enlistment for branches such as the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force meeting or exceeding recruitment goals for 2026.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell dubbed the outcome of the vote “total victory” in a post on X.
“The referral of these baseless impeachment articles to the House Judiciary Committee marks total victory for Secretary Hegseth, the Department of War, and the American warfighter,” he wrote, referring to the Defense Department by its secondary title.
He described the impeachment effort a political exercise devoid of “evidence or seriousness …, We will not indulge the political theater driven by a disgruntled soon-to-be former congressman and others who have chosen grandstanding over governing.”
Parnell continued, “We look forward to ending this sham impeachment in the committee room, where facts will continue to prevail and this distraction can be put to rest.”
TOTAL VICTORY!
— Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) November 10, 2026
The referral of these baseless impeachment articles to the House Judiciary Committee marks total victory for Secretary Hegseth, the Department of War, and the American warfighter. From the beginning, this effort has been a political exercise devoid of merit,… pic.twitter.com/ySqBEmfhns
Hegseth was defiant about his potential impeachment during his first news conference in months earlier on Tuesday.
“It’s not oversight and it’s not accountability,” he said. “It’s a political spectacle. A personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment.”
He apparently referred to Massie when he said that the measure was driven by “one man’s final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president, this country and, most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it.”
He added, “It’s a farce and it’s a stunt and everybody knows it.”
