The Hegseth Impeachment is Far From Over

Today, House Republicans managed to block the impeachment of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, by voting 211-204 to send it to a committee for further "study." But this fight is likely to be far from over.

The Republicans may be able to effectively bottle up the impeachment in committee for the rest of the current Congress (which ends on January 3, 2027). But it will almost certainly come back in the new Democratic-controlled Congress. With approximately 260 seats in the new House, the Democrats (virtually all of whom support impeachment) should easily be able to vote to impeach. At that point, it will be harder to get the necessary 11 or more Republican votes needed to secure the required 2/3 majority toconvict in the Senate(the Democrats will have 54 to 56 seats in the new Senate, depending on the outcome of still-incomplete vote counts in Alaska and Mississippi). But Hegseth will at least have to go through a trial focused on his role in the unconstitutional Iran War, and in the murder of over 200 people in "drug boat" strikes in the Caribbean and the Pacific, among other charges.

And, though it's a steep hill to climb, it is by no means impossible he might actually get convicted, as he is very unpopular on Capitol Hill (and elsewhere), and the evidence against him is strong. It is notable that House Republicans chose to use this procedural maneuver rather than just vote down the impeachment directly. It suggests they might not have had the votes to do the latter.

In previous posts, I explained in much more detail why Hegseth deserves to be impeached and convicted, and considered an excellent article on the subject by prominent conservative national security law expert Andrew McCarthy (who reaches similar conclusions).

It ain't over till it's over - and this one is far from that point.

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