The House on Tuesday shut down Rep. Thomas Massie’s attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. On a 211-204 vote at 6:02 p.m., members approved a motion to refer H.Res. 1655 to committee, according to the House Clerk’s official tally for Roll Call 317. Republicans voted 210-1 to refer it, Democrats voted 0-203 against, and the chamber’s lone independent, Rep. Kevin Kiley of California, voted with Republicans, the Clerk’s member-by-member record shows.
The single Republican “no” was Massie himself. The Kentucky Republican wrote the eight articles of impeachment, and he was the only member of his party to vote to keep them alive, as NBC News and CBS News reported.
What a “motion to refer” does
A motion to refer does not decide whether Hegseth committed an impeachable offense. It sends the resolution to a committee instead of to an up-or-down floor vote. Here, that meant the House Judiciary Committee, Fox News reported. In practice, the vote shelves the effort: NPR said it “virtually guarantees the measure will not be taken up before the current session of Congress expires.”
Massie had filed the resolution as privileged, which forced leaders to hold a vote within two legislative days, according to Fox News. He said Monday he would not bring up another impeachment resolution against Hegseth, CBS News reported.
Roll Call 317 at a glance (House Clerk):
- Question: On Motion to Refer, H.Res. 1655, Nov. 10, 2026
- Result: passed, 211 yea, 204 nay, 0 present, 18 not voting
- Republicans: 210 yea, 1 nay (Massie), 7 not voting
- Democrats: 0 yea, 203 nay, 11 not voting
- Independent: 1 yea (Kiley)
The administration closed ranks
President Donald Trump weighed in before and after the vote. On the night Massie filed, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Hegseth “should be praised, not Impeached” and urged: “Congress, stand up for Pete!!!” Tuesday morning, he posted that Hegseth “gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense.” After the vote, Trump declared that the effort “has miserably FAILED!”
“Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major LOSER, voted in favor of Pete.”
— President Donald Trump, Truth Social, Nov. 10, 2026
Vice President JD Vance dismissed the case outright. “Has Pete Hegseth committed impeachable crimes? The question is absurd and the answer is: obviously not,” he wrote on X. Vance added that “legislators are most angry at Pete on the issues where he’s most correct” and that the fight “is about the fact that Pete took on the bureaucracy at the Pentagon.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended Hegseth from Paris on the day the articles were filed. “I think he’s done a great job,” Rubio said, according to the State Department transcript. Asked about a Republican bringing the charges, he answered: “I think it’s unfair.” The next day, asked whether Hegseth’s orders had been lawful, Rubio answered “Yeah” and said Hegseth had carried out “the direct order from the Commander-in-Chief” and done it “quite effectively on all those fronts,” per a second State Department transcript.
Stephen Miller, who took over as White House chief of staff on Monday, according to The Daily Wire, signaled his support by action rather than statement. On X, Miller reposted the White House’s share of Trump’s “A PLUS” post Tuesday morning, and after the vote he reposted Hegseth’s share of Trump’s victory statement. A senior administration official told NewsNation that the two men’s close partnership is expected to continue, suggesting Miller will help insulate Hegseth from impeachment efforts.
Hegseth answered the charges himself at a Pentagon briefing Tuesday morning. “It’s a farce and it’s a stunt and everybody knows it,” he said in the Department of War’s live video (1:17). Of the operations Massie targeted, he said: “These are not high crimes. This is the job. And it’s the job well done” (13:35).
The accusation against Wiles allies
The vote also closes a chapter that began inside the White House. In the days after the Nov. 3 midterms, allies of then-chief of staff Susie Wiles were accused of trying to push Hegseth out to shift blame away from her. The accusation comes from anonymous sources quoted by the Daily Mail, and it has not been confirmed on the record.
According to a Daily Mail report published Nov. 6, three sources said Wiles’s allies spent those days trying to make Hegseth “the public reason Republicans lost so badly.” A senior Pentagon official told the outlet, “Susie was trying to push out Pete,” and a source close to the president said Trump was told more than once that Wiles’s team was leaking to the press about Hegseth “to pull attention off of her.” In an earlier Daily Mail report on Nov. 4, a senior Trump official described the strategy this way: “Susie is looking to protect herself but ultimately she’s also trying to protect the boss.”
Wiles has not publicly responded to the claim, and Politics Elections found no on-record denial from her. The Daily Mail said it had contacted her representatives, the White House and the Pentagon for comment. Its Nov. 4 report said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly stated the president retained full confidence in Hegseth, and its Nov. 6 report said Trump praised Wiles’s work to reporters as she left. Hegseth publicly thanked Wiles for her service after her exit, MS NOW reported.
Politics Elections has covered the shake-up from the start, including the reported Oval Office clash before Wiles’s exit, the calls to fire Wiles after the midterm losses and Stephen Miller’s move to wartime chief of staff.
Massie stood alone
The final tally left Massie isolated. Even Republicans who have criticized Hegseth would not join him. Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a frequent Hegseth critic, told reporters he did not agree with Massie’s articles, Fox News reported. Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, an opponent of the Iran operation, called the resolution an effort to scapegoat Hegseth, the same report said. Rep. Darrell Issa of California suggested Massie was driven by his primary loss, NBC News reported.
That loss was decisive. In the May 19 Republican primary for Kentucky’s 4th District, Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein beat Massie 57,822 votes to 47,539, roughly 55% to 45%, according to the Kentucky Secretary of State’s certified results. Massie leaves Congress in early January, CBS News reported.
Massie’s break with his party on Hegseth fits a long record. He was one of two Republicans to vote against House passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s signature tax and spending package, on May 22, 2025 (Roll Call 145), and again one of two to vote against final passage on July 3, 2025 (Roll Call 190). Votes against so much legislation earned him the nickname “Mr. No,” Roll Call noted when Gallrein launched his campaign with Trump’s backing.
Hegseth did not hold back. He opened his briefing by calling the effort the work of “one disgruntled and defeated congressman” (video, 0:54). He went on to call the resolution a message to America’s enemies: “This is not patriotism. This is sabotage” (3:55).
What comes next
The fight may return. Democrats won control of both chambers in the Nov. 3 midterm elections (results are unofficial and pending certification), and CBS News reported they could force the issue again once they take over in January. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has said Democrats will try to drive Hegseth out, NBC News reported.
Removal would still require conviction by two-thirds of senators present under Article I, Section 3 of the Constitution. For now, Hegseth keeps his post, and the only Republican who voted to keep the impeachment alive is on his way out.
