Republicans in the US House of Representatives blocked an effort on Tuesday to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, winning a reprieve for the polarising Pentagon chief before Democrats take control of Congress next year and possibly try again.

The vote on a procedural motion came just hours after Hegseth blasted efforts to impeach him as a farce and delivered a defiant defence of his record at the helm of the US military, winning praise from US President Donald Trump.

The chamber voted 211 to 204 in favour of a motion to refer eight articles of impeachment to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, a move that the sponsor of the impeachment push, US Representative Thomas Massie, warned would kill it.

Massie, an outgoing Kentucky Republican, had hoped to draw votes from Republicans upset with Hegseth’s policies and wary of the unpopularity of the war on Iran, but no other Republicans joined him.

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