Pete Hegseth impeachment effort fails in Congress

But the first formal effort in Congress to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was blocked by Republicans in the House. Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie introduced the resolution, accusing Hegseth of unauthorized warfare and executive overreach. Hegseth quickly dismissed that and criticized the one member of his caucus to support that measure. However, these impeachment calls will likely be back when Democrats take control of both the House and the Senate in January. America needs a serious Secretary of Defense, not a wannabe warlord. We got a lot of work to be done to get back into the majority. Now, the impeachment effort ultimately stalled in part because 11 Democratic lawmakers missed that crucial evening vote. House Republicans mainly united behind the defense secretary after President Trump sent a signal of his strong support online. Well, to talk more about it this morning, we're joined now by David McEwen, our political science professor from Sonoma State. David, good morning. Good morning, Dave. Pleasure to join you. Yeah. So the House Republicans, all of them united to say, no, we don't want to impeach Hegseth. What's your reaction? Well, look, it was unclear how much the White House, how much political capital the White House would put behind this. Clearly, they rallied, and they rallied the Republicans to push back. This has a number of downstream consequences. Obviously, you have to push for the National Defense Authorization Act. That's a defense budget bill during this lame duck session. In addition to that, you have the supplemental for the Iran war. And with that, this move with Pete Hegseth, it's helpful to bring both of those forward. The administration is also arguing, however, that the economic sanctions that they've placed on the Iranians have been so successful that further military actions are not needed. So on the one hand, you have the White House pushing forward with Pete Hegseth, saving his job, at least until the 120th or Democrats come into the next Congress. And at the same time, you also have this consequence related to funding the war, additional weapons with that supplemental, as well as the National Defense Authorization Act, the NDAA, which should come up for a vote later this month or early in December. So does this bolster Hegseth right now or is it just. Mirrors. Are we seeing anything or is there nothing there? Well, look, this will be consequential in the near term for now. There have been three cabinet secretaries that have been impeached but never convicted in the past. And if it was moving to a place, say, next Congress, where this is brought up in the first month or so when Democrats take over, if that happens and it looks like he's going to be convicted in the Senate with 67 votes, again, a long shot, if it looks like that's going to happen, He could always resign and also sends another signal throughout. As a result of the election, how the Trump administration is going to react, right? Stephen Miller throws a whole bunch of weight behind this. The president doubled down on this. And as a result, you see Pete Hegseth moving through. Though, Dave, you have to consider that Democrats are going to bring this up. The question for them will be timing. They'll have the votes to impeach. But getting this conviction through the Senate, again, with 67 votes, going to be a really tough sell, even when Democrats are in charge on the Senate side, too. Very interesting. Always interesting. David McKeown, our political science professor at Sonoma State, always good to hear from you and see you on Mornings on 2. Right back at you, Dave. Thanks again. All right, David.