US House blocks bid to impeach Defense Secretary Hegseth

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives blocked an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The lower house of the US Congress voted in favour of a motion to refer the impeachment charges to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee in a procedural vote on Tuesday, effectively killing an effort to remove Hegseth from his position led by Republican Representative Thomas Massie.

That push also won support from Democratic representatives, setting up a test of whether Republican lawmakers would break with the Trump administration and distance themselves from the unpopular war after a rebuke at the polls.

The final vote was 211 in favour and 204 against, with Massie the lone Republican to vote against it. The result means that Republicans will be able to slow-walk the process and can avoid a direct vote on the eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, which cover issues such as the Iran war.

U.S. President Donald Trump cheered the results in a social media post, saying the effort to impeach Hegseth "has miserably FAILED!" He wrote that Hegseth's performance on Iran, Venezuela and other issues "led to the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot."