The House has voted 211 to 204 to refer the articles of impeachment filed against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to committee, effectively killing the impeachment effort spearheaded by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

Tuesday’s vote short-circuits any potential floor vote on the articles of impeachment, and virtually guarantees the measure will not be taken up before the current session of Congress expires.

The vote provided a surprise reprieve for President Trump’s embattled Defense Secretary, who was facing an impeachment vote by the full House as early as Wednesday.

Massie reintroduced the articles of impeachment on Monday, accusing Hegseth of high crimes and misdemeanors in connection to the war with Iran and U.S. strikes against Iran and on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.

    • frongt@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      Sure. Conviction ain’t gonna happen, though. Enough conservative Dems will vote against it and give the “now is not the time, we need to move forward and heal” bullshit

      • stoy@lemmy.zip
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        8 hours ago

        I fucking hate that bullshit, one of the most important things about moving forward and healing is dealing with what has happened.

        • FishFace@piefed.social
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          1 day ago

          Punishment can be counterproductive… in an environment of reconciliation where there is a consensus that the wrongdoing happened and was wrong and shouldn’t be repeated.

          • stoy@lemmy.zip
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            20 hours ago

            Oh definately, there are plenty of times when it far more productive to help rather than punish.

            One of rhe best examples was after WWII, the US and the allies vould have crushed Germany, but they recognized that they would rather have Germany as a strong ally in Europe and helped west Germany move forward after the war.

            Was this decision perfect? No, there were plenty of war criminals that escaped punishement.

            Was this decision good? Yes, I believe so, Germany was rehabilitated and is now a close ally to the US and Europe.

            The stituation here is different, Hegseth and the other MAGA guys will not conceede reason and won’t cooperate honestly, in these cases some people needs to be made an example of, and Hegseth is an excellent candidate.

            • FishFace@piefed.social
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              1 day ago

              Indeed.

              (I don’t know if it was obvious but I do fully realise that we are not in the situation I described with Hegseth and MAGA!)

            • FishFace@piefed.social
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              1 day ago

              Nope, this is one of the principles of truth and reconciliation. It’s predicated on the idea that all parties want to move on from the wrongdoing, rather than one or more wishing to continue it.

              • flandish@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                not punishing those doing war crimes is not “moving on.” it’s allowing it to continue.

                • FishFace@piefed.social
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                  1 day ago

                  I see you’re doing your best not to understand and congratulate yourself on your success.

                  • flandish@lemmy.world
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                    1 day ago

                    what do we gain by their promising during an election cycle that which they never intend to do? how does not punishing literal criminals help?

      • Taldan@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        Enough conservative Dems will vote against it

        No they won’t. I’m a bit frustrated so few people understand such basic political theater

        Any impeachment votes are a purity test. Zero chance Hegseth is convicted. Everyone in congress knows that

        Impeachment forced Republicans to go on record defending Hegseth, which can be used as fodder for attack ads in 2 years

        The reason it is only ever political theater is because a conviction requires a 2/3rds super majority in the senate. Even with the blue tsunami Democrats aren’t even close to that with 56 votes

    • Skyrmir@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Yes, impeachment is considered privileged, so unlike a typical bill it can be brought back.

      • UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml
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        15 hours ago

        In the USA, we get to use our own political spectrum where democrats get to pretend they are left of center.

        Example:

        I call it the imperial political spectrum