House blocks Hegseth impeachment effort; Strickland absent for vote

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Washington’s Republican Reps. Dan Newhouse, of Yakima, and Michael Baumgartner, of Spokane, stood with their party Tuesday to halt efforts to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, sparing him an immediate congressional rebuke over the war in Iran after the GOP’s major election losses.

Rep. Marilyn Strickland, of Tacoma, was among 11 Democrats who missed the vote, with her office saying she arrived one minute too late.

The outcome came as Republicans grapple with the fallout from striking midterm losses, which some in the party have blamed on the unpopular war. Within days of the election, Vice President JD Vance openly blamed the GOP’s defeat on the war. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has continued to back Hegseth, posting after Tuesday’s vote on his social media platform that it amounted to an “exoneration of a great American patriot.”

Newhouse, who voted to impeach Donald Trump over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, questioned whether Hegseth’s actions “rise to the level” of impeachment. “Agree with the policies or not, are they impeachable? That’s the question,” the retiring six-term congressmember told The Seattle Times on Tuesday before the vote.

Baumgartner described the impeachment effort as a political stunt. “We have pressing national security work to do including passing a defense budget,” he said in a statement after the vote.

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a vocal critic of the war who lost his primary to a challenger backed by Trump, introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth and sought to force a House vote this week. House Republicans thwarted the effort Tuesday by passing a procedural measure to refer the resolution to committee, effectively killing it.

The motion passed 211 to 204, with only one Republican, Massie, breaking with his party to join Democrats.

And while Republicans banded together to stop the impeachment attempt, several Democrats missed the vote.

“The Congresswoman was stuck behind a motorcade and missed the vote by 1 minute,” said Siena Miller, a spokesperson for Strickland’s office.

The effort marked the first emboldened Democrat-backed attempt to rein in Trump’s administration after sweeping midterm victories. Tuesday’s vote may only delay the impeachment fight, as Democrats are set to soon control the House and Senate.

The rest of Washington state’s House delegation voted against shelving the impeachment effort, signaling unity on a future impeachment push. Rep. Adam Smith, of Bellevue, who is expected to chair the House Armed Services Committee, told The Times after the midterm election that he supports impeaching Hegseth. Strickland, despite missing Tuesday’s vote, has also said she supports impeachment.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, of Seattle, accused Hegseth of putting his loyalty Trump above his responsibility to the country. “Hegseth has ruined our reputation on the world stage and put military might and bravado over anything else,” she said in a video posted to social media Tuesday morning.

Massie’s articles of impeachment accuse Hegseth of violating federal law and the Constitution through military actions in Iran, Venezuela and Yemen, civilian deaths and efforts to punish Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy pilot, for participating in a video that called on troops to resist unlawful orders. Three of the eight articles focus on the war in Iran, which Massie argues was illegal from the start.

“The law requires our military to withdraw from hostilities within 60 days if Congress does not authorize the activity,” Massie said on social media Tuesday morning. “Operation Epic Fury has been underway for 256 days. Congress has not authorized it. Hegseth is breaking the law.”

On the morning of the House vote, Hegseth decried efforts to impeach him as a “political spectacle.”

“What one disgruntled and defeated congressmember is attempting is not oversight, and it’s not accountability,” Hegseth told reporters during a news conference.

“I stand behind every one of these operations,” he said of the military actions cited as unlawful misconduct in the impeachment articles. “I was proud to execute them, and I would do it again tomorrow.”