The vice president who told Republicans the Iran war cost them the midterms now says the drive to impeach Pete Hegseth has nothing to do with Iran.
An impeachment resolution accusing the Pentagon chief of waging unauthorized war in Iran, Venezuela and Yemen was headed for a vote in the Republican-led House on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. Vice President JD Vance used the occasion to rally to the defense of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. “Has Pete Hegseth committed impeachable crimes? The question is absurd and the answer is: obviously not,” Vance wrote on X.
“Congress has so many tools for registering its policy disagreements. Rather than use them, they’re going to try to impeach Pete Hegseth. They did the same to Donald Trump. Legislation is hard. Impeachments are easy (and ultimately, inconsequential),” he continued.
His most-noted line drew a line around the war itself. “This isn’t about Iran, this is about the fact that Pete took on the bureaucracy at the Pentagon,” Vance wrote, arguing that lawmakers are angriest where Hegseth has been most correct. He pointed to the repositioning of forces away from Europe and Ukraine and to the reorganization of the general officer corps.
The House voted 211-204 to send Rep. Thomas Massie’s eight articles of impeachment to the Judiciary Committee, a procedural motion that ended the push without a vote on the charges themselves. Had the motion failed, the chamber would have moved on to the articles.
Eleven House Democrats missed the vote, and had all of them been on the floor the motion would have failed 215-211. The absent Democrats were Julia Brownley, Lou Correa, Laura Gillen, Steven Horsford, Jonathan Jackson, Nancy Pelosi, Brittany Pettersen, Melanie Stansbury, Haley Stevens, Marilyn Strickland and Frederica Wilson. Seven Republicans also missed the vote.
Pelosi was in San Francisco at a Veterans Day event, her spokesman, Ian Krager, told ABC News. “She supports impeaching Secretary Hegseth and would have voted ‘No’ on the motion to refer,” Krager said.
Reps. Julia Brownley of California, Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico and Brittany Pettersen of Colorado attended an Elect Democratic Women PAC reception as the impeachment vote took place, Drop Site News reported on Nov. 12. An RSVP list it obtained listed 132 expected lobbyists, and federal campaign finance records show United Democracy Project, the super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), transferred at least $2.35 million to EDW Action this year. Stansbury’s office told ABC News a traffic incident kept her from reaching the Capitol in time.
The War He Blamed Last Week
A week earlier, Vance had given a different diagnosis in a lengthy post on X. “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” he wrote on Nov. 4. “But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there,” he added.
Democrats seized both chambers in the Nov. 3 midterms, and Republicans across the party have blamed the Iran war and the surge in gas prices that followed. Those losses hand Democrats control of the next Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, 2027.
The Schoolhouse Strike Inside the Articles
Massie filed his resolution on Monday, Nov. 9, as a privileged measure, which gave Republican leaders two days to bring it to the floor. The Kentucky Republican lost his primary this year to a Trump-backed challenger and leaves Congress in January 2027.
Illegally waging war without congressional authorization, abusing the powers of his office and violating the Constitution are the charges the eight articles level against Hegseth. Their reach extends well past Iran to military actions in Yemen and Venezuela, among them the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and the extrajudicial killings of alleged drug smugglers in international waters.
The articles also cite reported cuts to the staff and resources of the Pentagon office charged with mitigating civilian harm, reductions that came before a U.S. missile struck an Iranian primary school. The strike killed up to 168 people. One article addresses Hegseth’s attempt to punish Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly over a video urging troops to resist unlawful orders.
Massie says the fighting has run 256 days without congressional authorization, and that the law requires a military withdrawal from hostilities within 60 days absent such authorization.
He Called It Sabotage
Hegseth answered from the Pentagon briefing room on Tuesday, Nov. 10, his first news conference there in six months. “This is not patriotism. This is sabotage,” he said. He dismissed Massie’s complaints as “policy disagreements, not high crimes,” rejected the allegations as politically motivated and said he has no intention of resigning.
On Nov. 12, Hegseth awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal to Spc. Thomas Iglesias for his duties at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Nov. 11, after Iglesias reprimanded Hegseth’s group there. “We love soldiers. We love standards. Well done, Specialist,” Hegseth posted.
President Donald Trump had already graded Hegseth’s Nov. 10 news conference an A-plus on Truth Social and has said he intends to keep his defense secretary.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocy on “The FOX News Rundown” podcast on Friday, Nov. 13, whether he is interested in replacing Hegseth, said: “I think he’s going to stand by the current secretary after this impeachment gambit. I mean, you can disagree with a cabinet secretary, but to just try to use impeachment on policy grounds and policy differences, I don’t think that’s a good precedent.”
Jordan Beats Scalise as Johnson Steps Aside
House Republicans chose Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio over Majority Leader Steve Scalise, 106-73, on Tuesday, Nov. 10, the same day as the impeachment vote, picking the man who will lead them in the minority after Speaker Mike Johnson stepped aside. Senate Republicans re-elected John Thune as their leader by acclamation.
The referred resolution dies in the Judiciary Committee when the current Congress ends on Jan. 3, 2027. Democrats will then hold the gavel and can file new articles of their own.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to become speaker, backs the push and said Hegseth “abused his power” and “undermined our national security.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has endorsed impeachment.
Impeachment in the House takes only a simple majority, so the incoming Democratic majority could approve articles without a single Republican vote. Removal takes two-thirds of the Senate, and a trial could come soon after Democrats take that chamber.
Only two Cabinet secretaries have been impeached before in American history: William Belknap, secretary of war under President Ulysses S. Grant, in 1876, and Alejandro Mayorkas, homeland security secretary under President Joe Biden, in 2024. Hegseth would be the third.