Some Democrats want to pump the brakes on Hegseth impeachment
Some top Democrats want to pump the brakes on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth next year after this week’s attempt came up short.
Key points
- Eleven Democrats were absent, helping Republicans shelve the charges against the defense secretary.
- It drew sharp criticism a week after the party’s sweeping election victories.
- House Minority Whip Katherine Clark told Democrats in a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning that the party had disappointed the American people by not having all of the members there for the impeachment vote, and that it was their job to show up for the people who sent them there, according to people familiar with her comments.
With plenty in the caucus pushing for a Hegseth impeachment, though, another lawmaker could force a vote next Congress — whether Democratic leaders want it or not.
Nearly a dozen Democrats missed the vote Tuesday referring the impeachment articles to the Judiciary Committee, with Democratic lawmakers blaming traffic and scheduling conflicts, among other issues.
Additional details
- Looking ahead to the next Congress, top Democrats plan to conduct investigations into Hegseth on their own terms, rather than letting their hand be forced early.
- He worries the party could get stuck in internecine conflict after a sizable number of Democratic absences on the impeachment procedural vote caused hand-wringing this week, which could take attention away from cost-of-living issues that powered their midterm gains.
- I don’t think there’s a single Democrat or a lot of Republicans that think that Hegseth is qualified for the job and has done the job well,” said Rep.
- Still, Democrats, including Clark, note that they likely couldn’t have won the vote, given the lack of GOP defections beyond Rep.
- “And I’d really like to see affordability stay at the center of the agenda.” Still, others wanted to keep impeachment in mind.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
Advertisement
Every article behind this summary — 2 articles from 2 outlets
Get stories like this in your inbox.
Subscribe — it's freeOne free email at 6am — your topics, deduplicated, five minutes. No account, no paywall.