Pete Hegseth avoids impeachment as Republicans unite in House to nix motion

Republican leaders succeeded in killing a push in the House to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in a surprising show of unity from a battered party after last week’s midterm drubbing and prevented a humiliating vote for President Donald Trump.

GOP leaders, along with White House officials, worked furiously behind the scenes to kill the impeachment push from anti-Trump crusader GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, reported CNN, citing multiple sources.

The leaders succeeded in convincing enough Republicans to show up to the vote despite big election losses and vote to refer the impeachment measure to a committee and take it out of floor consideration.

The defeat of the motion to impeach Pete Hegseth gives the embattled Pentagon chief a significant victory even as there are serious questions about his political future.

The House voted 211-204 to send the measure to the Judiciary Committee, effectively killing it.

Thomas Massie sole Republican to vote in favour

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, who introduced the articles of impeachment against Hegseth, was the sole Republican to vote in favour of proceeding with the effort.

Massie, an anti-war Republican, argued that Hegseth violated the Constitution by waging war against Iran without congressional authorisation and launching deadly strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and ignoring laws to minimise civilian casualties.

The Kentucky Republican is set to exit Congress at the end of the year after losing his primary to a candidate backed by Hegseth and President Donald Trump.

Hegseth had to overcome concerns from several Republicans to be confirmed last year and has since become the public face of the deeply unpopular war with Iran.

‘They will fail again,’ Hegseth said in presser before vote

The Pentagon chief used Massie’s impeachment effort to shore up support for the White House at a time when some Republican lawmakers wanted him to resign or be fired.

At a press conference before the vote on Tuesday, Hegseth likened the bid to remove him from office to the two times the House voted to impeach Trump.

“Both times he came back stronger, and the American people sent him back to the White House,” Hegseth said. “Now they’re trying a third time, this time against a member of his Cabinet. They will fail again.”

“If standing with President Trump puts me in that company, I’ll take that company every day of the week,” he added.

In recent days, Trump has heaped praise on Hegseth and pledged to keep him in office even if the House voted in favour of impeachment.

Hegseth is “perhaps the most popular and successful military official in the country,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Monday.