Protecting Hegseth … for Now

A fog of amnesia hit House Republicans Tuesday night, erasing memory of a vast midterm election loss just a week ago as they voted to protect War/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from impeachment charges – though he will face the same questions in eight weeks when the incoming Democratic majority is seated.

Though voters had expressed clear unhappiness with continuing, ill-defined war with Iran and excesses of Team Trump, the House voted 211-204 to send the impeachment matter to the Judiciary Committee, effectively killing it for now. Neither side even lured all its current members back to vote – and this was to consider not the substance, but the procedural issue of whether to vote on the impeachment challenge from Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who stood alone among Republicans.

What Republicans accomplished was another post-election stand to shield Donald Trump from embarrassment, even more than again enabling Hegseth. But it is more a delay than a decision.

Impeachment resolutions do not die at the end of a Congress, so Democrats, who will control the House and Senate starting Jan. 3, would be able to take up the matter when they assume power.

As it stood, even if the House had advanced the measure, there are more steps and a contentious trial to overcome for a successful ouster. Legally, it is unclear whether there will be agreement that the charges rise to “high crimes or misdemeanors” as required for conviction – or, more simply political, whether Republicans have the votes to block conviction.

But now Democrats will have another chance to craft their own charges in a way that may lure the 11 or so Republican senators whose votes will be needed for conviction.

The Process

With an impeachment charge, it is almost beside the point whether senators feel Hegseth is a good leader or even a qualified leader, but rather whether the punishment of ouster matches the allegations. In effect, the defense from Hegseth supporters is that he may pursue bad policies, but that is not impeachable.

A visibly exasperated Hegseth is fighting the charges with ridicule and appeals to support for the military, labeling the effort a political sham. It’s a defense we will be hearing a lot that skips over any discord with the overwhelming voice of voters from the midterms.

This current Congress still needs to vote about money that the Pentagon has requested, so the issues behind anti-Hegseth unhappiness will not leave center stage.

While impeachment or rejection of Hegseth would be a significant repudiation of the Trump administration’s handling of the war with Iran and a fistful of Pentagon decisions and policies about deploying the military without the consent of Congress, the defense secretary is fighting it as if it is a judgment on the effectiveness of the U.S. military, not about obeying the rules of war or war approvals.

Massie’s charges accused Hegseth of violating federal law, military treaties and the Constitution, and of abusing his authority. A simple majority was enough for passage.

As we know, impeachment is a formal accusation by Congress, which then goes to the Senate for a trial to determine conviction and removal. A two-thirds vote is required for conviction and ouster.

The Charges Against Hegseth

The impeachment measure by Massie, who lost his Trump-ordered primary in May, accuses Hegseth of waging war without congressional authorization and continuing the military campaign after Congress voted to direct the president to terminate the conflict or seek authorization to continue it; violating 30-day deadlines under the War Powers Resolution; carrying out unlawful military strikes against suspected drug traffickers; unlawfully capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; conducting unauthorized military operations in Yemen; disregarding laws intended to minimize civilian casualties; and abusing his power by retaliating against Sen. Mark Kelly for protected speech.

Not specifically charged, for example, was the policy of “double-tapping” or killing seamen from attacks on those alleged drug boats who had survived the initial incoming fire or whether that struck school in Iran had been purposely targeted. Other administrations since World War II have ignored the War Powers Act without impeachment.

Hegseth dismisses the allegations, selectively choosing facts and historical arguments, calling the impeachment effort a “farce and a stunt.” In a news conference, his first in six months, he attacked Massie as undercutting U.S. troops, whom he described as successful and feeling fully supported for the first time in decades. He did not mention rising suicide attempts, complaints about supplies to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, the number of disputed identities of slain supposed drug boat operators in the Caribbean or the deaths of schoolchildren in Iran.

There is plenty of bipartisan enmity for Hegseth who has turned the Pentagon into a culture war front attacking what he calls diversity and inclusion by firing women and Black generals and admirals, striking monuments to Black achievement in the military, and fostering a white, supremacist attitude towards creating a “lethal warrior” mentality dependent on picture-perfect physical training and injections of testosterone rather than, say, flu vaccine.

News outlets have noted that when House Republicans impeached Alejandro Mayorkas, who served as the homeland security secretary under Joe Biden, over immigration enforcement, Democrats argued that policy choices did not constitute impeachable offenses. The Republican-led House impeached Mayorkas, but the Senate dismissed the charges.

Of course, the real target here is Trump himself, who, after all, made all the calls that Hegseth may have promoted and executed. It is widely seen as a political mistake for Democrats who want to end the war, tariffs and government service cuts to spend time seeking to impeach Trump without having the votes to assure conviction for a third time.

“FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS NOT JUST IMPORTANT TO DEMOCRACY, IT IS DEMOCRACY.” – Walter Cronkite. CLICK HERE to donate in support of our free and independent voice.

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