Eleven Democratic absences let Republicans table Hegseth impeachment push

The report opens with the irony that Democrats won an election and then lost a vote they had the numbers to win. One week after their sweeping midterm victories, Democrats had handed Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a political gift simply by not showing up.

Eleven House Democrats missed a vote to advance impeachment proceedings against Hegseth. Their absence allowed House Republicans to table the measure, effectively killing any chance of impeachment, at least for now. The motion passed 211–204, even though Democrats had enough potential votes to defeat it.

The effort to impeach Hegseth started with a Republican. Congressman Thomas Massie accused the Defense Secretary of abusing his power and violating the law, especially in the war against Iran.

Before the vote, Hegseth argued that the resolution would tell enemies such as Iran, the cartels and every adversary watching that the United States would punish its own warriors and civilian leadership for carrying out lawful military operations. He said that this was not patriotism but sabotage.

Hours later, Republicans voted to table the resolution, which stopped any move toward impeachment.

Some Democrats who did show up to vote were angry. Speaking to Forbes, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez reprimanded her fellow Democrats.

She said the people had sent them to do a job. She said she could not speak to whether anyone had real health issues, and wanted to leave room for that possibility. But she said that at the end of the day, they were there to do a job, and compared it to clocking in at a restaurant where she had worked.

Several of the absent Democrats blamed traffic, while others had a medical reason. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was attending a Veterans Day event.

The political damage, however, was done. President Trump feels vindicated, and Hegseth avoided impeachment. The Democrats are left facing an uncomfortable question: if they cannot organize themselves to win a vote like this, how will they wield power when they take control of Congress in January?

The report turns to Norman Ornstein, an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who has spent decades studying the US Congress and co-authored the book The Broken Branch.

Asked what the vote says about Democrats' ability to wield power, Ornstein said it was a little bit of a surprise. He said he had expected Republicans to have difficulty getting their votes because so many of them had lost, and did not think they would want to come back for a lame-duck session. Republicans remain in power until January 3.

Ornstein said the absence of 11 Democrats would have been an embarrassment to Hegseth and Trump had he been impeached through a resolution brought by one rogue Republican who will not be in the next Congress.

He added that Hegseth was not going to be convicted in the Senate in any case, because conviction takes two-thirds of the votes there.

He said the impeachment resolution was shaky. It included counts about violating the War Powers Act that were probably not well pointed at one individual, and it left out some of the most damning issues involving Hegseth, including a Signal chat early in the Trump administration that could be hacked by almost anyone and exposed important national security information.

The interviewer pointed out that Democrats had a chance to get the ball rolling and did not. Hakeem Jeffries had said just a few days earlier that he was a hard yes on starting impeachment, yet 11 Democrats did not show up, prompting the question of where party leadership was.

Ornstein said that the absence was one of the more worrisome things about when Democrats take over. Democrats will have a large majority, the largest in decades, with 260 of 435 House seats and probably 56 senators.

He said they will need a great deal of discipline to take on an administration that will fight them at every turn. If discipline is not there in November, it is a real question whether it will be there in January. He hoped the vote would be a wake-up call for Hakeem Jeffries, who will be the next speaker, and other leaders, who will have to be much tougher on members to secure critical votes and keep the majority together. He said early signs suggest Democrats have work to do.

The interviewer noted that some lawmakers had legitimate reasons for missing the vote, while others reportedly got stuck in traffic, which the interviewer found hard to believe and called embarrassing at best. The interviewer asked whether this reveals something deeper about how seriously Democrats take governing.

Ornstein did not think so. He said that days after a hard-fought election, a let-down was understandable. But he said the episode does reflect something about the leadership, which he described as either an unwillingness or an inability to crack the whip and tell members that a vote is important and they must be there.

He said it would be a wake-up call, but that it was not yet known whether Democrats would change how they do business once they hold a majority. He added that billionaires such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Larry Ellison would pour money into blaming Democrats in the majority for anything that goes wrong, and none of it on Trump.

Asked why a Republican led the impeachment resolution while Democrats could not capitalize on it, Ornstein said that nobody likes Hegseth. He described Hegseth as a blowhard who has at many turns undermined American security, and said the war in Iran has been a foolish exercise that greatly depleted US armaments, with Hegseth significantly responsible for putting the country there. He said Hegseth behaved with an arrogance that turned off almost everybody.

Ornstein said it was not a surprise that Thomas Massie, a maverick who pushed hardest to release the Epstein files and was hated by Donald Trump, led the effort. He said that a Republican-controlled Congress impeaching Hegseth would have been more performative than anything else and embarrassing for the party.

He argued that the other Republicans who voted to table the motion did not do so because they like Hegseth or approve of many of his actions, but to avoid embarrassing their leader. He added that Republicans would be in the minority in the next Congress, and that few people would be willing to do what Massie did on almost any front.

Asked whether the Republicans falling into line to avoid embarrassing Trump reflects Congress failing to assert itself as a check on presidential power, Ornstein explained that a House majority can act without minority support. It can set what goes on the floor, limit amendments and pass things through, and does not need Republicans to do so.

He said Republicans chose Jim Jordan, one of their most aggressive blowhards, as their House leader, showing they will fight Democrats tooth and nail. He said the Justice Department and the White House Council had threatened Democrats if they try to subpoena administration officials or hold them accountable.

Ornstein said the Supreme Court had given immense power to the president and taken power from Congress, and that the Republican Congress did nothing to provide the check and balance the Constitution demands. He said Democrats will try to do so but it will not be easy, since they are not likely to have much support from the Supreme Court, although they have received support from lower courts and federal judges.

Asked what Democratic leaders must get right by January, Ornstein said they have to get their act together in how they do their business. He said normal committee hearings with five minutes per side will not work.

He said Democrats must communicate more broadly, including reaching out to social media and podcasts, because billionaires control the main communications outlets, and they will have to be tough under the threats that exist.