Impeachment bid against U.S. defense secretary thwarted; Trump: “A patriot’s innocence has been proven”

[Financial News] With about two months left in the session, Republican members of the U.S. House effectively killed impeachment proceedings targeting U.S. Secretary of War (Defense) Pete Hegseth by delaying them. Democrats, who swept both chambers in this midterm election, plan to try to impeach Hegseth again when a new session begins in January next year.
According to local media, including the Associated Press, the U.S. House held a procedural vote on the 10th (local time) on whether to send the impeachment resolution against Hegseth to a committee before bringing it to the floor. The resolution was referred to the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 211 to 204.
U.S. media said the vote effectively killed the impeachment resolution. Republicans currently hold a majority on the House Judiciary Committee, whose chairman is Jim Jordan, an Ohio representative considered a hardliner and close to President Donald Trump. In a vote on the 10th, Republicans elected Jordan as their new floor leader for the House session that begins on January 3 next year. The House Judiciary Committee is expected to leave the Hegseth impeachment resolution untouched until the current session ends.
The impeachment effort was led by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has long been at odds with Trump. He had already introduced a resolution to impeach Hegseth last September but failed to achieve his aim. On the 9th, Massie introduced the resolution as a “privileged” measure requiring it to be taken up within two days, but he was unable to overcome delaying tactics by hardliners in his own party. In the vote on the 10th, all Democrats voted against the measure, while Massie was the only Republican to do so. Massie lost the Republican primary for the midterm elections last May and is set to leave the House when the session ends in January next year.
The impeachment resolution, now shelved, comprised eight articles. Massie alleged that Hegseth had waged war in Iran without congressional authorization and disregarded laws protecting civilians. He also accused Hegseth of killing at least 221 people by attacking vessels suspected of carrying drugs. The resolution further said that eight people who survived airstrikes all died at sea because rescue assets did not arrive until 45 hours later. It also alleged that Hegseth had fired the top legal officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force without cause in an effort to suppress internal disagreement over the legality of the airstrikes.
Shortly before the House vote on the 10th, Hegseth held a news conference at the Department of War headquarters and denounced the impeachment effort against him as a “political show.” Referring to Massie, he said, “What one disgruntled, defeated member of Congress is trying to do is neither congressional oversight nor holding anyone accountable.”
Immediately after the House vote on the 10th, Trump posted on the social media platform Truth Social: “The Democrats’ attempt to impeach Hegseth failed miserably!” He claimed, “Victories in Venezuela and Iran, the best recruiting results in the history of the U.S. military (the waiting list of people waiting to enlist is so long!), and morale at levels rarely seen before have proven the innocence of a great American patriot.”
The Democrats, who won majorities in both the House and Senate in this month’s midterm elections, plan to try again to impeach Hegseth when the new Congress convenes next year.
Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the favorite to become speaker of the House next year, said in an interview on the 8th, “Hegseth must go.” On the 10th, he also vowed to “oust” Hegseth. On the same day, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said, “I support a Senate impeachment trial.”

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