GOP picks House and Senate leaders, Hegseth impeachment vote is killed

Seven Republicans and 11 Democrats missed Tuesday's vote to effectively block an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The vote passed 211-204, with 203 Democrats and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie voting no.

The Democrats who did not vote were Reps. Julia Brownley, Lou Correa, Laura Gillen, Steven Horsford, Jonathan Jackson, Nancy Pelosi, Brittany Pettersen, Melanie Stansbury, Haley Stevens, Marilyn Strickland and Frederica Wilson.

The non-voting Republicans were Reps. Monica De La Cruz, Neal Dunn, Russell Fry, Julia Letlow, Tom Tiffany, Derrick Van Orden and Rudy Yakym.

Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat, said in a statement on social media that she was "blocked from entering the Capitol to vote due a traffic incident and a police escort of a bus during the vote."

"When she reached the chamber, the vote had just gaveled out. She immediately filed a report of her vote of 'NO' to the motion meant to kill the impeachment articles and refer them to the Judiciary Committee, as documented in the Congressional Record," the statement read. "Pete Hegseth must be impeached now."

Correa, a California Democrat, said earlier Tuesday he is remaining in his district due to a medical procedure.

Nearly a dozen Democrats skipped Tuesday night's vote on the impeachment resolution, helping Republicans defeat it through a motion to refer it to the Judiciary Committee. The move effectively kills the resolution. 

Jeffries said he hadn't "had a conversation with anyone on the floor team about what may or may not have happened in terms of the Hegseth resolution." 

"But this is not the end of it," he said. "It's just the beginning." 

Coming off the House floor, Rep. Thomas Massie said "I wasn't surprised, but I was disappointed" about the failed effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

"My diagnosis of Congress is these people know what to do," Massie said. "They just can't bring themselves to do it, even when it would benefit them politically." 

"My analogy here is the Titanic hit the iceberg on Nov. 3, and I offered people a life raft, and they said, 'No thanks. We'll stick with the Titanic.' They know it's a sinking ship, but they committed to stay on board," Massie said, referring to Election Day. 

Massie said he planned to force a vote on a war powers resolution. 

"We're going to see all these Republicans who said, 'Oh, we lost this election because of the war,' will they still vote for it?" Massie said. 

The House has blocked an effort led by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, largely over the war with Iran. 

The House voted 211 to 204 to refer the resolution to the House Judiciary Committee, effectively killing it. Massie was the lone Republican to vote with all Democrats against it.

Read more here.

The House has begun voting on whether to block the impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

If it passes, the resolution will be referred to a committee, effectively killing it. If it passes, the House could move forward with votes to impeach Hegseth as soon as Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, speaking after he was reelected as GOP leader, outlined a plan to "finish this legislative session strong," emphasizing the need to move judicial and executive branch nominees, fund the government and "make the most of the time that we've got."

Thune said the conference is committed to staying in Washington, extending the calendar and the number of work days to finish out their work.

Rep. Jim Jordan spoke briefly after winning the leadership election. 

"Over the next two years, House Republicans will fight for American families. When Democrats offer more government, we'll offer more freedom. And we will bring that fight in committee, on the floor and on the stump every single day," he said, before thanking his colleagues for their support. 

He did not take any questions. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson praised incoming Minority Leader Jim Jordan as a mentor of his when he was first elected to Congress. 

"He's always been regarded as a leader by the conference, and he's going to do an extraordinary job," Johnson said after leadership elections. 

Johnson said he talked with Jordan earlier Tuesday about keeping the often-divided conference united. 

"It is easier to keep a group together when you're in the minority," he said. 

Johnson would not reveal who he voted for, calling Jordan and Majority Leader Steve Scalise "both my brothers." 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters he is "confident" he'll be elected majority leader when Democrats take control.

"I'm confident I will be elected majority leader," Schumer said during a press conference at the Capitol.

Schumer has been the top Senate Democrat for nearly 10 years. 

Outgoing Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa posted a photo with Democratic Sen.-elect Josh Turek of Iowa, saying they had a "productive" conversation. Turek won Ernst's seat in last week's election. Ernst decided not to run for reelection, and Turek beat Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson for the seat. 

"Welcomed Senator-elect Josh Turek to the Capitol today!" Ernst wrote. "We had a productive conversation about the responsibilities and honor of serving in the US Senate and representing the great people of Iowa. We will work together to ensure the voices of all Iowans are heard and their needs continue to be met during the transition."

Senate Republicans elected John Thune as leader by acclamation, his spokesperson said, meaning there were no dissenters. 

Senate Republicans also reelected Sen. John Barrasso as whip, Sen. Tom Cotton as conference chair and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito as policy chair.

Read more here.

Sen. Ron Johnson, emerging from the Senate GOP conference meeting, said Republicans accepted a motion to proceed to leadership elections, which are now underway.

Johnson had pushed to delay the elections to discuss the path forward after the midterm elections. Republicans met behind closed doors for two hours earlier Tuesday, before reconvening in the afternoon. 

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said at a press conference at the Capitol that he will not support Sen. Chuck Schumer for majority leader, becoming the most prominent progressive to oppose Schumer's candidacy to date.

"I personally have known Chuck Schumer for over 30 years, and I like Chuck. Nobody who works harder than Chuck Schumer," Sanders said. "But in my view, the time is now for change, and I will not be supporting Chuck to be reelected as the Democratic leader."

Sanders was alongside Sen. Elissa Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat. Slotkin said she is "not actively seeking this job," but seeking change. 

Asked about possible challengers to Schumer, Sanders cited Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland. Van Hollen told reporters this week that he wasn't closing the door on the option. 

Democrats are expected to vote for their leaders next month.

House Democratic leaders aren't whipping votes to impeach Hegseth, said Rep. Pete Aguilar, chair of the House Democratic Caucus. That means that Democratic leaders aren't pushing their members to vote to impeach, letting them decide for their districts. 

"It's not being whipped," Aguilar told reporters. "Members are going to have to make their own decisions based on the articles of impeachment. We didn't put our finger on the scale."

Aguilar said he'll vote yes on impeaching Hegseth, as will House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. But members will make their own decisions, Aguilar said, "and we respect that." 

Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota won election to remain as the House GOP's whip, the position he currently holds. The role is the second highest-ranking in the minority, meaning Emmer will be Jordan's No. 2.

Emmer defeated a challenge from Rep. August Pfluger of Texas for the job.

Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio has won election as the House GOP's leader in the next Congress, defeating current Majority Leader Steve Scalise. The vote was 106 to 73, sources familiar with the tally told CBS News.

Jordan is a hard-line conservative and close ally of President Trump. His ascension to minority leader represents a significant shakeup for House Republicans, who are looking to rebuild after losing more than 40 House seats.

Read more here.

Senate Republicans are reconvening, after they recessed following a two-hour meeting Tuesday morning. They're expected to vote on whether to delay the leadership elections. If that effort falls short, senators will move on to conducting the leadership elections themselves. 

Asked about his pitch to Republicans ahead of the meeting, Thune told CBS News, "I'm kind of hearing everybody out, and then I'll summarize what I heard."

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, who's still locked in a race against Democrat Scott Colom that remains up in the air, told reporters that "we've got a lot of votes still out, and we're counting, and we hope to come back and represent them the way that we have."

Colom is leading Hyde-Smith, the GOP incumbent, by more than 2,500 votes as of Tuesday.

"People vote with their wallets, and gas prices are high," Hyde-Smith said of the dynamics in the race. 

Asked by CBS News whether there was more she could have done, Hyde-Smith said, "I think we worked very hard and had a very good campaign."

Hyde-Smith credited "a lot of money poured in" to the race for making it so competitive. 

"We're just looking for the conclusion of our race and votes to be cast, votes to be counted," she added. 

Republican Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee told reporters he wants a House Republican leader who will admit Republicans "made mistakes."

"I want somebody that's going to message, and admit that we made some — we made mistakes," he said.

Burchett said Republicans failed to pass sufficient stock trading restrictions, and act on the cost of living. He said his party "let the oil companies make record profits."

A reporter asked Burchett if Republicans have learned their lessons from the midterms. 

"We'd better or we'll continue to lose," he responded. "That's the bottom line. Congress, the Republican Congress deserves what it got because we allowed it to happen. But America doesn't deserve what they're getting ready to deserve." 

House Speaker Mike Johnson said he will "take the oath in January" amid questions about his future in Congress. 

"I'm going to take the oath in January and do everything I can to help my team succeed in the 120th Congress. We haven't thought much more beyond that," Johnson told reporters. 

On Monday, Johnson declined to commit to serving out his full two-year term. 

"We're focused on finishing the 119th [Congress] strong. We're going to do that. I'm still in charge here till early January, and we're going to do our duty. And after that, my commitment and my objective is to help my team ensure that the Republican Party has a very successful 120th Congress, and we'll see how all that develops, and that's my commitment," he said. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson said the vote that's planned for later Tuesday to sideline Massie's impeachment resolution against Hegseth is "not going to fail." 

"We have the votes," he said. "We'll dispense with the impeachment gambit." 

After their candidate forum, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said the difference between him and Rep. Jim Jordan is that "I've got a proven record." 

"I could go to the most ruby red or the most swing district, and we're going to have to go back to those swing districts we lost," he said. "Also, great experience battling on policy, developing and shaping policy, because we're going to show an alternative agenda when the Democrats bring a socialist agenda to the floor." 

House Republicans are breaking for lunch and will return at 1:30 p.m. to elect their leadership team. 

Massie's impeachment resolution focuses on Hegseth's involvement in some of the most controversial episodes of President Trump's second term: the war with Iran, boat strikes in the Caribbean, an attack on an Iranian school and the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The resolution includes eight articles:

• Article I: Waging war in contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 Section 2(c)
• Article II: Waging war in contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 Section 5(c)
• Article III: Waging war in contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 Section 5(b)
• Article IV: Ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties
• Article V: Extrajudicial killings
• Article VI: Suppressing free speech
• Article VII: Kidnapping of a sovereign foreign leader
• Article VIII: Unlawful war in Yemen

Read an in-depth look at each article here.

Asked whether there should have been a larger pool of candidates running for House GOP leadership given last week's electoral bloodbath, Rep. Nick LaLota of New York said, "It's pretty clear that those are the two alphas in the room who will lead us out of this minority." 

Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan are facing off for the minority leader position.

In a post on X, Massie said that if his impeachment resolution advances, he will request a separate vote on each of the eight articles.

"I've heard from several members they agree with some of the Articles of Impeachment but not all of them," Massie wrote. "If the motion to kill my resolution by referring it to committee fails, and we proceed to the Articles themselves, I'll request a vote on each of the Articles separately."

Republican Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas said his party is having "a needed family discussion" during their candidate forum Tuesday morning.

"We're having a very good family discussion," he told reporters. "When you have a defeat like we saw last week, we certainly have to reevaluate where we are and how do we get back to the majority." 

He added: "We all understand that coming out of today's leadership elections, whoever we select as our leaders … we have to be unified behind whoever we select."

Moran, who said he supports Majority Leader Steve Scalise for minority leader, said both Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan "can speak very effectively and fervently" to the GOP base. But the party has "to speak to those swing districts and those swing voters that went to the Democratic side this time" to win back the majority in two years. 

"We've got to have a voice that speaks to [the whole] spectrum of the Republican Party," he said. 

Senate Republicans recessed for committee hearings after meeting for around two hours Tuesday morning. They are expected to return at 2 p.m. to continue their discussion and vote on whether to delay leadership elections. 

Sen. Ron Johnson, who has led the push to delay, told CBS News exiting the meeting that "it's a very high-quality conversation," and "people are voicing opinions on all sides of the issue."

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky said around a dozen senators spoke during the meeting. Senators did not hear much from leadership yet, he said, adding that it "was mostly dissent."

Majority Whip John Barrasso said the meeting was a "very productive discussion."

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Republicans will "defeat" Massie's impeachment resolution against Hegseth "one way or the other." 

The House is expected to vote later Tuesday on a GOP motion that would effectively kill the resolution. It's unclear from Johnson's comments whether Republicans have enough support to table it, or if they would take another route to defeat it. 

Johnson called Massie "a disgruntled congressman" and said the impeachment effort was "a political gambit for attention." 

"This is just purely for people to get attention, and it's shameful," the Louisiana Republican said. 

Retiring Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said he will oppose the effort to impeach Hegseth, after saying on Monday that he was unsure about how he would vote.

"I don't agree with the impeachment itself," Bacon said. "If you're allowed to amend it, I'd maybe feel a little differently." 

He also said that House GOP leaders "can't just be a rubber stamp for the president." 

"You got to stick up for what I would say are traditional conservative values," he said Tuesday morning. "And we did not do that this last two years." 

Bacon also said he thinks it's time for new leaders to step forward, saying the House should be more of a "check and balance" on President Trump. 

"I think the founders wanted us to be more of a check and balance. We should have pushed back on tariffs. We still should push back on tariffs. Tariffs cost us the election more than anything else, in my view," he said. 

Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said "most of us are probably ready to vote, move forward," as Senate Republicans consider whether to delay their leadership elections. 

"We can always have the discussions moving into the next year," he told reporters. "But I think today is a good time to get our leadership in place."

Rounds said, "There's nothing wrong or wrong with having a discussion about any changes that would be made in terms of what works." 

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri expressed frustration heading into the Senate GOP leadership elections, telling CBS News he hoped to hear from leadership about "a different direction."  

"This was the worst set of losses since Watergate, and Watergate was after one of the biggest political scandals in American history," Hawley said. "I mean, it's an incredible repudiation to the focus of this Congress over the last two years."

Hawley said he hadn't heard from Thune ahead of the leadership election. 

"I, for one, haven't heard a word from the leader. So it can't be terribly important to vote today if the leader is not making calls and actually asking people to vote for him," he said. 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday defiantly denounced the impeachment effort led by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, calling it a "farce" and "political spectacle" ahead of an expected vote in the House on the measure later in the day.

"What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, and it's not accountability. It's a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment," Hegseth said.

The defense secretary called Massie's impeachment effort an attempt to harm President Trump because of his own "personal animus" for the president and dislike of the Trump administration's policies.

"It's a farce, and it's a stunt, and everybody knows it," he said.

Read more here.

Thune was sympathetic on Monday to the efforts to come together on a path forward after the bruising midterm elections, and said that the decision over whether to delay the leadership elections would ultimately come down to his conference.

Thune said he was open to hearing the arguments for delaying the votes.

"But like I said, it's going to be a decision that's ultimately made by Republican senators," he said. "We'll hear them out."

"I think in the end, I think it's important that for purposes of moving forward, that we get some of these issues settled as soon as possible," Thune told CBS News Monday. "We'll see what our members think tomorrow."

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, who's leading a push to delay the Republican leadership elections, outlined where things stood on Monday night, telling reporters that leadership had agreed to hold a conference meeting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, "and we'll see how convincing those of us are who believe we should delay leadership elections."

When asked whether there needs to be new leadership, Johnson said Senate Republicans "just can't continue on business as usual" after a "stunning defeat" in the midterm elections.

"I mean, that kind of defeat demands change," he said. 

Johnson conceded that there isn't a clear alternative to follow him as leader, saying, "That's part of our problem. Who'd want the job?" But he argued that at a minimum, Senate Republicans need to hear from their leadership team about the strategy moving forward. 

"You need to have some real soul searching, some robust discussion, and give people a chance to consider, 'maybe I want to run for some leadership position,' and then give them a chance to talk to their colleagues to try and develop support," Johnson said. "You can't do that, you know, a week out of Washington, come back the next day. I mean, it's obnoxious."

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday night that Republicans can't delay their leadership elections because new members are in Washington for orientation and "it's just not something that logistically we could do." 

"These dates were published in advance and everybody knew it. I suppose if you're running for an office, you'd always want more time to do that," Johnson said. "But the reason we can't change the date is because all this was set in stone, and we have all the new members here, and we're doing all the member orientation. If we delayed leadership elections, that interferes in all of that." 

"There's a lot of logistics that goes into all that," he added. 

Earlier Monday, GOP Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, who chairs the Ways and Means Committee, argued that the elections should be delayed so that the conference could address rules that have allowed a small group of Republicans to hold up legislative activity throughout the past two years. 

"Failing to address these issues before choosing someone new to lead our Conference is doing a disservice to whoever we choose as Republican Leader," he said. "We should delay our Leadership elections until we decide how to hold each other accountable and what our path forward should be. Our rules must never again permit a Leader to be taken hostage to the whims of an individual member." 

Senate Republicans are scheduled to meet Tuesday morning as several GOP senators have pushed to delay their leadership elections.

Led by Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a small group of Republicans signed onto a letter seeking to compel a conference meeting and vote on delaying the elections before moving forward. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Monday that Republicans will "have a conversation" before seeing where the conference stands on holding the leadership elections.

"I do think that we need to have a very fulsome, robust conversation about where we go from here, and then we'll see what the consensus of the conference is," Thune said. "I mean, ultimately, that's a decision that will be made by Republican senators sometime tomorrow."

Thune is expected to be reelected as leader, and no Senate Republicans have launched a challenge to his leadership. The South Dakota Republican said he was open to hearing the arguments for delaying the leadership election, adding, "I don't know if that solves anything." But he reiterated that the decision would come down to the GOP conference. 

House Republicans are set to meet at 9 a.m. to begin considering their next leadership team. 

House GOP leadership could see the most significant change among the parties in both chambers after House Speaker Mike Johnson bowed out of leading the conference in the minority. 

Johnson's move leaves Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, to jockey for minority leader. 

"We have two extraordinary guys that are running to lead the conference. I'm close to both of them, and we'll see how that shakes out," Johnson said Monday. 

Rep. August Pfluger of Texas is challenging Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota for the position of minority whip. 

Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain of Michigan has two opponents — Reps. Erin Houchin of Indiana and Greg Steube of Florida. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson did not explicitly commit to serving out the full two-year term for which he won reelection last week. 

"We're focused on finishing the 119th [Congress] strong. We're going to do that. I'm still in charge here till early January, and we're going to do our duty. And after that, my commitment and my objective is to help my team ensure that the Republican Party has a very successful 120th Congress, and we'll see how all that develops, and that's my commitment," the Louisiana Republican told reporters Monday night.