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House Cancels Impeachment Vote for Defense Secretary Hegseth, Leaving for Election Break
Confirmed
In Short: House lawmakers will leave Washington on Wednesday night for the last time before the November midterm elections, after GOP leaders canceled votes set for Thursday, including a planned impeachment vote for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The House is set to return to Washington on Nov. 8, after lawmakers leave for the midterm elections. GOP leaders canceled the vote to avoid a difficult decision for vulnerable Republican members who are uneasy with Hegseth's leadership during the Iran conflict.
Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, took to the House floor on Tuesday to read his impeachment resolution, accusing Hegseth of illegally prosecuting the Iran war past the 60-day limit without congressional authorization.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., slammed the Massie impeachment effort as 'ridiculous' and defended Hegseth, while GOP leaders insisted their decision had nothing to do with Massie’s efforts but rather to avoid a difficult vote for their vulnerable members.
Massie, who recently lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger and is set to leave Congress in January, introduced the resolution on Tuesday, asserting that Hegseth had acted in a manner grossly incompatible with his duties and the rule of law.
What's confirmed
- House lawmakers will leave Washington on Wednesday night for the last time before the November midterm elections, after GOP leaders said they were canceling votes set for Thursday.
- On Tuesday, with no advance warning, Massie took to the House floor and began reading his impeachment resolution.
- Hegseth “has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to the Constitution, if allowed to remain in office, and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with his duties and the rule of law,” Massie said.
- Thomas Massie of Kentucky’s resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth until after Election Day.
- GOP leaders insisted their decision had nothing to do with Massie’s impeachment efforts.
- But they were eager to avoid a difficult vote for many of their vulnerable Republican members who have been uneasy with Hegseth’s leadership during the unpopular six-month war with Iran.
- Talking to reporters Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., slammed the Massie impeachment effort as “ridiculous” and defended Hegseth.
- That set up a vote no later than Thursday, but then GOP leaders scrapped votes that day, pushing the impeachment vote until after the election.
What's still developing
- Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., this week told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that he had kept his impeachment articles against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth from party leaders until he read it aloud on the House floor.
- Meanwhile, the Senate will remain in session for the next three weeks.