Overview
- The House voted to refer impeachment articles against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to the House Judiciary Committee, a move that stopped an immediate floor vote and kept him in office for the current Congress.
- The referral passed by a seven-vote margin after 11 House Democrats missed the procedural roll call for reasons reported as traffic delays, medical procedures and other absences.
- Republican Rep. Thomas Massie engineered the motion to begin impeachment, and House GOP leaders moved quickly to refer the articles, a tactic critics say protected Hegseth for now.
- The articles cite alleged misconduct including an order for a disputed second strike on a suspected narco‑trafficking boat and interventions in senior promotions, and civil‑society groups have accused Hegseth of promoting a Christian nationalist agenda inside the Pentagon.
- The referral came on Nov. 10 and now sets up a likely January 2027 fight when incoming House Democrats, who say they will renew investigations, gain committee control but would still face long odds for conviction in the Senate.