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The US House of Representatives halted efforts to remove Defense Minister Pete Hegseth, after a procedural vote that prevented the charges against him from being put to a direct vote, against the backdrop of the war on Iran and other US military operations.
The Council voted by a majority of 211 votes to 204 in favor of referring the draft impeachment resolution to the Judicial Committee, in a move that disrupted the move led by Republican Representative Thomas Massie, and is likely to prevent its completion during the current session of Congress.
Massey had filed eight articles of indictment against Hegseth, which included launching military operations without authorization from Congress, violating the laws of war, failing to protect civilians, and abuse of power.
Massie used a parliamentary procedure requiring the House of Representatives to consider the draft resolution within a short period, but the Republican leadership succeeded in referring it to the Judiciary Committee, instead of voting on the accusations themselves.
Massey was the only Republican who opposed the referral, according to Reuters, while House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced his support for the removal of Hegseth, accusing him of abusing his powers and undermining American national security.
The result of the vote does not mean that Hegseth was acquitted of the accusations, as the Council did not consider their content, but it spared him from becoming the first US Secretary of Defense to be charged with a formal constitutional impeachment, and the third minister in the history of the United States to face this procedure.
However, the failure of the attempt does not prevent the issue from being re-raised, especially with the transfer of control of both chambers of Congress to the Democrats on January 3, 2027, even though the removal of the minister will require the approval of two-thirds of the senators present, a majority that the Democrats cannot achieve on their own.
What are the charges against Hegseth, how are impeachment procedures conducted in the United States, and what are the historical precedents for trying ministers before Congress?
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What charges were brought against Hegseth?
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The first four provisions of the draft resolution relate to the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began in February 2026, as Massie accuses the Secretary of Defense of participating in waging the war without authorization from Congress, in the absence of an imminent Iranian threat to the United States, and continuing it despite the issuance of a Congressional resolution calling for it to stop.
It also accuses him of violating the War Powers Act of 1973, which sets a deadline for ending military operations not authorized by Congress. According to Massey, the original 60-day deadline expired on May 1, but operations continued after that.
The fourth accusation relates to negligence in protecting civilians, citing the strike that struck the Tree of Life Primary School in the city of Minab in southern Iran on February 28, which the draft resolution says resulted in the killing or wounding of more than 200 civilians.
The Iranian authorities announced the killing of 156 people, including 120 children, while United Nations human rights experts said that there are reasonable reasons to believe that the United States carried out the strike, but the Pentagon did not acknowledge responsibility for it, and said that it was subject to investigation.
The draft resolution does not accuse US forces of intentionally targeting civilians, but rather points to systematic failures in procedures for identifying military targets and protecting civilians.
As for the other four items, they include accusing Hegseth of issuing orders that led to the killing of more than 220 people in strikes targeting boats suspected of being used to smuggle drugs in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, without judicial procedures.
It also includes accusing him of trying to punish Democratic Senator Mark Kelly, for his participation in calling on the military to reject illegal orders, after a federal judge blocked an attempt to reduce his military rank, from which he retired.
The last two items relate to the US military operation that ended with the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January 2026, and the strikes against the Houthis in Yemen in 2025, as Massey believes that the two operations were carried out without proper authorization from Congress.
How did Hegseth respond to the accusations?
Hegseth rejected the accusations against him, described efforts to remove him as a "farce and political show," and accused Massey of trying to undermine American military operations.
The Minister of Defense said, during a press conference at the Pentagon on Tuesday, that all the military operations he supervised were legal and carried out on orders from President Donald Trump, with Congress informed of them.
He added that military operations do not constitute impeachable crimes, but rather, as he put it, they are missions that were successfully completed.
Hegseth defended the war on Iran, considering that it was necessary to protect American national security. He also said that Maduro was not kidnapped, but rather brought to justice.
The Secretary received the support of President Trump, who praised his performance and criticized Massey, while Vice President J.D. Vance described the accusations as ridiculous and refused to consider the Defense Secretary’s actions as impeachable offenses.
Following the vote, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell described the referral of the charges to the Judiciary Committee as a “complete victory” for Hegseth and the Department of Defense.
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How are isolation procedures being conducted in the United States?
The US Constitution provides a mechanism that allows Congress to impeach senior federal officials, including the president, the vice president, ministers, and federal judges, up to and including their removal from office.
Article Two of the Constitution specifies three types of violations that could require impeachment, which are treason, bribery, and what is known as “high crimes and misdemeanors,” a term for which the Constitution does not provide a detailed definition, but which has historically been linked to abuse of power and violation of public trust.
It is not necessary for the official to have been convicted of a crime before a criminal court, as impeachment procedures are of a constitutional nature that differs from criminal trials.
The process begins in the House of Representatives, where a draft resolution is presented that includes articles of impeachment, and it is sufficient for one of them to be approved by a simple majority of voting members for the official to become officially accused, without this meaning him losing his position.
The case then moves to the Senate, which is responsible for trying the official and considering the evidence presented against him. To convict and remove him, two-thirds of the Senate members present are required, meaning 67 votes if all 100 members are present.
However, if this majority is not achieved, the official will not be convicted in the impeachment trial, and he can continue in his position, and the Senate can also, after conviction, take a separate decision to prevent him from holding federal positions in the future.
Have American ministers ever been subjected to impeachment procedures?
The US House of Representatives has never passed constitutional charges against a Minister of Defense, but two other ministers have faced this procedure in US history, without either case ending in conviction before the Senate.
William Belknap, 1876 corruption case
Belknap was Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant when he faced charges of receiving payment for trade concessions tied to a military outpost at Fort Sill, in what was then Indian Territory.
On March 2, 1876, Belknap resigned shortly before the House of Representatives voted to impeach him, but the House went ahead and passed five articles of impeachment against him.
The Senate decided to try him despite his resignation, and on August 1 of the same year, the majority of its members voted in favor of convicting him, but it did not reach the constitutionally required two-thirds, so he was acquitted in the impeachment trial.
Alejandro Mayorkas, Immigration Politics in 2024
After nearly 148 years, on February 13, 2024, the House of Representatives approved two charges against Joe Biden’s Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, by a vote of 214 to 213.
Republicans accused him of deliberately refraining from enforcing immigration laws and violating public trust, against the backdrop of the administration's policies at the border with Mexico.
But the Senate, which was controlled by Democrats, voted on April 17, 2024 to dismiss the two charges as they did not meet the constitutional standards for impeachment, without holding a full trial, and Mayorkas remained in office until the end of the Biden administration.
What is the relationship of the issue to the powers of the president and Congress to conduct wars?
The Hegseth case raises the old constitutional dispute over military decision-making powers in the United States, as the Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, while making the president the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
In an attempt to regulate these powers, Congress passed the War Powers Act in 1973, which imposes restrictions on the use of military force without legislative authorization, but its interpretation and application remained a matter of disagreement between the executive and legislative branches.
Massey relies on this law to accuse Hegseth of carrying out military operations without the approval of Congress and continuing them after the expiry of the legal deadlines, while the Trump administration adheres to the president’s constitutional powers and confirms the legality of the military operations it carried out.
Congress' oversight is not limited to impeachment procedures, as it can summon officials, hold hearings, demand documents, and review military funding, while the president can dismiss the Minister of Defense without waiting for a decision from Congress.
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