NYT (“Republicans Turn Back Effort to Impeach Hegseth“):
House Republicans banded together on Tuesday to shelve an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, shielding him from a damaging rebuke and a potential ouster after their party suffered crippling losses in an election that turned on voters’ discontent about the Iran war.
The action spared Republicans a vote on whether to impeach Mr. Hegseth on eight separate charges, including violating the Constitution to wage war in Iran and elsewhere without congressional authorization, flouting laws to mitigate civilian casualties and abusing his power by retaliating against a senator for public statements.
This was a surprising result, because there was almost universal expectation that some Republican Members—including some who had lost their jobs partly as a result of the unpopular war effort—would join Democrats.* Aside from Thomas Massie, who brought the charges, none did.
The vote was 211 to 204 to refer the charges to a committee, which would allow Republicans to slow the process indefinitely. Only one Republican, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who spearheaded the effort, voted with Democrats against doing so.
Naturally, a procedural vote to defer voting on the merits is being spun as something else.
President Trump said the vote was an “exoneration” of Mr. Hegseth and warned that Democrats “must be stopped” from what he said was weaponization of government.
Regardless,
The outcome was an unexpected reprieve for Mr. Hegseth, one of President Trump’s most outspoken and combative cabinet members and the public face of the war with Iran. Democrats could still move to impeach him next year when they assume power, but have so far not indicated whether they will try to do so.
His conduct has, at times, drawn bipartisan criticism from members of Congress, and his standing in the administration was further thrown into question following sweeping Republicans losses in the midterm elections, in which voters’ discontent about the war was a major factor. It had not been clear whether G.O.P. lawmakers, including several who were unexpectedly defeated or won re-election far more narrowly than they anticipated, would rally to support him.
Alas, they did.
Party leaders had also been concerned that low attendance by their members could doom their chances of saving Mr. Hegseth. In the end, though, more Democrats than Republicans missed the vote.
The 11 Democrats who did not vote were Representatives Julia Brownley, Lou Correa and Nancy Pelosi, all of California; Laura Gillen of New York; Steven Horsford of Nevada; Jonathan L. Jackson of Illinois; Brittany Pettersen of Colorado; Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico; Haley Stevens of Michigan; Marilyn Strickland of Washington; and Frederica Wilson of Florida.
The Republicans who did not record a position were Representatives Monica De La Cruz of Texas; Neal Dunn of Florida; Russell Fry of South Carolina; Julia Letlow of Louisiana; Tom Tiffany and Derrick Van Orden, both of Wisconsin; and Rudy Yakym III of Indiana.
Considering how many Republicans were defeated last Tuesday or didn’t even bother to run for re-election, I’m surprised only 7 missed the vote. That Pelosi was one of 11 Democrats who didn’t bother to show up is surprising. That Stevens was, not so much.
Asked whether pursuing the failed impeachment effort had been worth it, Mr. Massie said it “absolutely” had been, because it provided proof that his party was still in thrall to Mr. Trump.
“What I found out tonight is they still haven’t broken from the spell of Donald Trump,” Mr. Massie said. “He still controls this conference.”
So it would seem.
Some Republicans who had expressed dissatisfaction with Mr. Hegseth’s performance ultimately concluded that impeachment was not the appropriate remedy, noting that cabinet secretaries serve at the pleasure of the president and that any decision to fire him rested with Mr. Trump.
Others had privately raised concerns that the articles of impeachment, which include wide-ranging allegations of misconduct when overseeing military operations to policy disputes within the Pentagon, could also implicate the president in his role as commander in chief.
Indeed. While the politics are obviously different, in terms of “high crimes,” there’s zero justification for impeaching Hegseth and not Trump for policies that could not have been executed save for a presidential order.
UPDATE (1025): A Hill report (“House Democrat rips colleagues who missed Hegseth vote: ‘Shameful’“) provides additional context:
Democratic Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (Calif.) on Tuesday evening decried the 11 members of her party who missed a House vote to advance impeachment proceedings against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
House Republicans effectively tabled the measure, with the chamber voting 211-204 to refer the resolution to committee. No Democrats voted against advancing the measure in the Tuesday vote.
“There’s no reason why we should have lost this vote because of attendance issues,” Kamlager-Dove told MeidasTouch’s Pablo Manríquez. “This is what the people have been talking about … so shame on folks who were not here because these people lost.”
She added that several GOP lawmakers “lost and they still found a way to show up to table this bill.”
[…]
Other Democratic lawmakers also expressed frustration over the missed votes. “I don’t know if anyone had any real health issues or anything significant to that respect, so I want to leave room for that, but that being said, at the end of the day we’re here to do a job,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) told CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday evening following the vote.
“And the same way I had to clock in when I worked at a restaurant, we got to clock in and do our work here,” she added.
That does not seem an unreasonable expectation.
Some of the excuses were better than others.
Some of the Democratic lawmakers who missed the Tuesday evening vote — including Reps. Melanie Stansbury (N.M.), Jonathan Jackson (Ill.) and Laura Gillen (N.Y.) — said they were blocked from reaching the Capitol before the vote closed because of traffic.
“Like other Members of Congress, Rep. Stansbury was blocked from entering the Capitol to vote due a traffic incident and a police escort of a bus during the vote,” the New Mexico Democrat said in a statement on social media after the vote.
“When she reached the chamber, the vote had just gaveled out,” the statement continued. “She immediately filed a report of her vote of ‘NO’ to the motion meant to kill the impeachment articles and refer them to the Judiciary Committee, as documented in the Congressional Record. Pete Hegseth must be impeached now.”
DC traffic is indeed a thing. But the vote was around 6pm; the Members should already have been at the Capitol.
Several retiring Democrats were also among the lawmakers who missed the vote, including Reps. Julia Brownley (Calif.), Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Frederica Wilson (Fla.).
Given how many retiring or defeated Republicans showed up, that’s hardly an excuse.
On the other hand:
Additionally, California Rep. Lou Correa (D) said he “vehemently” supported the impeachment resolution but shared a statement disclosing that he would miss votes while he underwent a “medical procedure here in Orange County.”
Seems like a reasonable justification to miss a vote.
*Indeed, a POLITICO report (“Hegseth has a Senate Republican problem“) just hours before the vote suggested that enough Senate Republicans might well vote to convict to oust him.
