This episode of IHIP News, hosted by Jennifer Welch and Josh Welch, examines why eleven House Democrats did not vote in the failed impeachment attempt against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The hosts react to the missed vote, relay the explanations offered by some members, including a traffic delay, and voice frustration with party leadership, particularly Hakeem Jefferies.
They discuss claims that pro-Israel APAC campaign money influenced the absences, which the hosts raise as a possible explanation. The conversation also covers the Iran war, calls for leadership change in the Senate and House, and a petition supporting Congresswoman Pressley.
Listeners hear the hosts' opinions on accountability and party strategy.
In this episode Jennifer Welch, Josh Welch
This IHIP News episode on the missed Hegseth impeachment vote was made with the technology behind HappyScribe's AI meeting note taker.
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The Democrats completely sabotaged the impeachment of Pete Hegseth yesterday. It's unbelievable. The Merrick Garland wing of this party rises up after what we all experienced a week ago: a blue nominee of epic proportions. Pop this up. These Democrats were recorded as not voting. Had 11 voted no, it would have failed. 2:11 to 2:15, and the House would have moved toward a vote on impeachment itself.
And here are the 11 people that did not show up to do their job, to vote to impeach somebody that appears has committed war crimes, who is incompetent, who is launching a Christian nationalist campaign inside our military, who is firing people because they're Black, firing people because they're women, firing people because they're trans. And we had an opportunity to deliver to the American people after Tuesday, and 11 Democrats sabotaged it, Josh.
I— how does this happen? It's like, uh, it's like they didn't see the election. They didn't— how do you not show up and vote? And what happened here, the Republicans, they made a motion to send this resolution to the committee, thus forcing the Democrats to have to have a majority of voters. We only needed 7, and 11 people didn't show up. How— when you see the atrocities that Pete Hegseth is committing every single day, the discourse in the media, and the things that are being disclosed about our military, and how unpopular this war is, and you have 11 Democrats that don't even show up when you just need 7?
I— I mean, I can't even— I can't even understand it. I try to— I try to understand it. It's like, do we need to reset since last Tuesday? Because it has been a catastrophe on messaging from the Democrats, with Jefferies and Schumer and then this. I mean, a complete reset almost is necessary, in my opinion. It's so disheartening.
All right, so why did the Democrats miss the vote? There's got to be some really good reasons. Because this is something— this is their job, to show up, fight fascism, fight alleged war criminals like Pete Hegseth. Let's pop this up. Per several members, some of the House Democrats who missed the Hegseth impeachment vote were on their way back from an elect Democratic women's event at a venue about 1.5 miles down Pennsylvania Avenue, but got caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic jam on Independence Avenue, the road on the House side of the Capitol complex.
Nancy Pelosi also released a statement saying she was attending a Veterans Day event. Okay, this stuff just doesn't work in the real world. Like, this is one of the— you've got a mandate in the House. I mean, they're still— we're— the victory is still expanding from some of these states that are taking longer in these close races. We're still gaining seats. And I think this is— the buck stops with Jefferies. If this is a preview as to what it's going to be like when he has the full-blown gavel, I'm out. I do not want a Merrick Garland Haley Stevens wing of the Democratic Party sabotaging what I believe is an existential time period in our democracy.
And then here's what happens when you have politicians that understand the assignment. Senator-elect Abdul Al-Sayed was on CNN, I believe, last night, and he was asked about this. Play the clip.
The things that you think Democrats need to address on day one: tariffs, the Medicaid cuts, the Iran war. Hegseth— Secretary Hegseth— was on the verge of potentially facing an impeachment vote today, but Republican leaders were successful in killing it. Is that something you want to see Democrats revive?
You imagine being Pete Hegseth right now? Like, why are you still in your job? I mean, it's an open question. Like, Pete— like, really, just open question: why are you still doing this job? You are really bad at this. You are failing your responsibility. You have mishandled this war, and nobody really actually understands what it is you're about. Every day you're talking about fighting a new cultural war, but, like, you're supposed to be waging an actual war that is actually illegal on its own terms. So just resign. Make it easy for everybody instead of, in the end, getting taken out, because that is clearly what's happening. So, Pete, just take it from me.
Like, you're not good at this.
I mean, you're talking directly to Pete Hegseth. What do you say to those 11 Democrats who didn't show up to vote tonight?
You should show up and do your job.
That's it. That's the simple messaging. This is such a failure of Hakeem Jefferies' leadership, because the Republicans should own this. And I wake up this morning and the headline is, "11 Democrats sabotaged the impeachment." Moving forward, of Pete Hegseth, the most incompetent, testosterone-obsessed, frat bro, buffoon to ever rule over the Department of Defense. Are you kidding me? This is such an outrage. It is an utter outrage. Show up and do your goddamn job.
Just think if the flip— the script was flipped. I mean, just think about that. And this was the Republicans needing every one of their members to show up and vote for something. They would do it. They— they would do it 100%. I mean, this is such a layup for us, and we can't even do that right. It's like there's this disconnect between these officials, these elected officials, and the voters. And they get up in Washington, it's almost like you see colleagues of mine when they become a judge and they put a robe on, they completely change. These Congresspeople, men and women, they get elected, they get up there in D.C., they get in this bubble, they forget the struggles of the American people, but yet they want to celebrate when we come out in mass droves and vote.
And they don't get it. They just don't get it. And it's so frustrating. I mean, you read stuff like this, and I want to throw my laptop across the room. I'm so mad. I'm so frustrated.
It's so incredibly frustrating. And you may remember, Josh, and listener, Abdul Al-Sayed faced unprecedented spending against him in the primary and in the general. And the main pack that spent so much money against him was APAC. So our producer here did a little digging, and let's look at what do these 11 missing Democrats that sabotaged the impeachment of someone whom I believe to be just an unrepentant war criminal, Pete Hegseth, what do they all have in common?
Pop this up. The 11 House Democrats who missed the vote that killed Thomas Massy's Hegseth impeachment resolution have all received significant pro-Israel APAC money in Congress. Just 7 of them voting against the referral motion would have flipped the 2:11, 2:04 result. Haley Stevens, of course, she was a no-show, is the highest APAC recipient in Congress. So this is the APAC wing of the Democratic Party.
This is the Haley Stevens wing of the Democratic Party. Hakeem Jefferies, the buck stops with him. You whipped the votes. You whipped the votes. We went out in droves and voted too big to rig. In minority communities, they were scared to death because the administration was threatening everyone that we're going to have ICE at the polls, we're going to have all of these law enforcement at the polls. And everybody went out and did that because we want this war to stop, we want these crimes to stop, and we want Democrats to tell these packs, whether it's Big Tech, APAC, Big Oil, Big Pharma, whomever, "Enough.
Y'all are fine. You've made enough money. We're done fighting for you." And they just can't do it. This is so unacceptable. It is just unacceptable. It makes me so irate at the Democratic Party.
And it makes you think that Hakeem didn't want them to show up and vote. Because obviously he takes a lot of APAC money, and so do these other people. And so he can't rally those people because he's got the same interest as those people not to do it. It questions his leadership. All of these backdoor, you know, agreements that are made amongst the congressmen, you know, to get certain committee assignments and so forth, they don't want— we don't want him. Like, nobody does. There was a petition that was signed where over a million people said, "We do not want this man to be speaker."
And then you see something like this. He fumbles the ball. When this is literally on the one-yard line, just show up and vote, and you can't even do that. It's why people hate politicians. This is an example of why people do it. Because they support him, they support him, they go vote, they go vote, they do that, they get energetic, they do— and then you win, and then you fuck up like this. It's why people are just irate about politics.
And it creates vacuums for a demagogue to then come in and say, "I know these politicians have failed you. I know they lie to you. I know they don't listen to you. I'm going to be your savior."
Right.
And this creates the psychological soil for what made the electorate prime to elect Trump twice: do-nothing Democrats. Think about it like this: if the through line here is APAC money, Netanyahu was in the Situation Room and convinced Donald Trump to wage war against Iran, and then he went to social media and he said, "My 40-year dream"— and I'm paraphrasing here— "my 40-year dream of attacking Iran is finally coming true."
This is something he has had a bee in his bonnet and wanted to do, and every other American president has said, "No, we're not doing it. There's no upside for us to engage in this." And Donald Trump did it. And so they have a vested interest, since we know it's in Israel's interest, they want to balconize Iran. And why do they want to balconize Iran? Because they— Israel is a teeny tiny country with no natural resources. And if they balconize Iran and get it to break up, then their idea of this greater Israel expansion project is they'll be able to start taking over parts of it and build an empire.
And so they're very, very vested in keeping this unconstitutional, in my opinion, illegal, very unpopular war in Iran going. And sadly, the Democrats, the do-nothing Haley Stevens, Merrick Garland wing of the Democratic Party, is doing their work and not doing the work of the American people. This war is unpopular even with a lot of MAGA people. Like, this was a layup. And Jefferies' response to the Democrats missing the vote— pop this up.
I asked Hakeem Jefferies about attendance appearing decisive in the Pete Hegseth vote. 11 Dems did not vote tonight. He told me and reporters, "I haven'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. This is just the beginning." I'm sorry, but I— that's not acceptable to me. He should come out and say, "I am going to hold every single one of these members to account.
I know that I have an 18% approval rating. I'm not a dumbass. I know that everybody's calling my office and all of my colleagues' offices and doesn't want me to be speaker, and I'm accountable for this. So I'm going to sit down with every single one of them, and I will get back to you because I'm madder than a hornet. This is unacceptable. This happened under my watch." Instead of this meal-y-mouth bullshit that everybody is so sick of.
Yeah, he's so full of shit. Like, this guy, it's like there's no accountability with him. And, you know, maybe he is wanting to grandstand in a couple of months or somebody else on another committee. The Democrats want to bring up a resolution for this and do it. But listen, Pete Hegseth is a national security risk for our country. The more that he's in charge and conducting this war— you know, we talk about the killing of the fishermen on the boats, 221 people, I think it was, the bombing of a school in Iran.
I mean, we talk about these things and everybody shows this outrage, and you can't show up, just fucking show up to work and vote. Vote. I mean, this is— seriously, it just— I don't even know elsewhere to say other than just be so pissed off and cuss for 30 or 45 minutes. I mean, that's all I could do.
It's just utterly maddening. It's just— it is unbelievable how incompetent and, or worse, how they are more aligned with the wishes of war criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu, war criminal, who, if he were to go to Europe right now, his ass would be arrested and he'd be sent to The Hague, that we have Democrats that are more in line with that guy.
It's crazy.
Than with the American people. Are you kidding me? Just change your party to Republican. Let's just stop it. It's just wild.
And after this election, too. I mean, it was a clear mandate on this war, how unpopular this war is. How do these 11 Democrats that weren't— didn't show up to vote, how do they not see that or get that?
Okay, so now there is a new Change.org petition coming about for Congresswoman Pressley. And this woman is a force. Just to give you a preview of how she sounds and her attack accountability line of questioning when she's on the House floor, this was her grilling Russell Vote, the architect of Project 2025.
Play the clip.
Sometime in Sunday school.
That's a pejorative in your language.
I'm sorry, did you happen upon a scripture that said, "Thou shalt make thy neighbor poorer, hungrier, sicker, and less safe"?
I'm not.
That's actually what you've done. I didn't ask you to speak. This makes no sense. You are as incompetent as you are cruel and callous. Seriously, there are millions of families who have had to deal with an unexpected medical crisis, including yours, I'm sure, because cancer and illness do not discriminate.
Okay, so you get the gist. Not only do I want her to be speaker of the House, let's run her in 28. I mean, I'm serious, because she, number one, called him out because he is one of these hypocritical, duplicitous Christians that weaponizes the faith to rile up the white nationalist evangelical base. Which, by the way, in this last election, every single demographic moved blue, except for one. White evangelicals moved further towards MAGA. They like what they're seeing.
They like the cruelty. They like the concentration camps. They like seeing people sent to CCOT to be sexually abused and tortured. It's ASMR to these people. And she brilliantly called out what a hypocrite he is, uses his faith to weaponize so that he can exact cruelty onto people in the name of God, which is so diabolical and manipulative, but that is at the epicenter of the entire MAGA movement. And that is the type of leadership we deserve.
We deserve a leader that is going to tell him, "You are as cruel as you are," incompetent to his face. He tries to interrupt her. She won't have it. I've never seen Hakeem Jefferies like that.
No, and the reason is because he's leveraged. I mean, he tries to speak out of both sides of his mouth. Every time he gets up and talks, and you can see the fire inside of her when she's asking questions, she doesn't care. Like, she doesn't care if she's going to piss someone off or be unpopular or make someone mad. And you can do that. You can act like that. You can fire at people with questions after question if you're not leveraged, if you don't care if you piss the other side off. And it's refreshing to see. I love her.
And she's fighting. She can do that with such righteous indignation because she's on the right side of history. She's talking about the sick. She's talking about the poor. She's talking about the marginalized. She's talking about the things that the central character in the book, the Bible, one Jesus Christ, advocated for. And she's just on the right side of history. She has the fire. She has the fight. Go to Change.org and let's sign this. We cannot. We cannot have leaders in Congress that allow this fuck-up to happen.
All right, the Senate is another thing. I'm really proud of what I'm seeing with the Democratic Party in the Senate, okay? It's like, over in the House, we've got preschoolers that are learning to potty train. In the Senate, you're starting to see people that are college graduates. Of course, Bernie Sanders— play the clip.
For over 30 years. And I like Chuck, nobody who works harder than Chuck Schumer. But in my view, the time is now for change, and I will not be supporting Chuck to be reelected as the Democratic leader.
Perfect, Bernie. That is absolutely perfect because Chuck Schumer is compromised. Chuck Schumer is not the leader we need. He's not the leader we deserve. I will admit he has done some great things and advocated for a lot of people that I want to advocate for in this moment. Anybody who is in the Haley Stevens, Merrick Garland wing of the Democratic Party, 15 years ago, sure, fine. Right now, we need uncompromised fighters who we have to usher out the era of prostitution politics, and that includes Chuck Schumer, and that includes Hakeem Jefferies.
Yeah, and we've talked about this. I mean, his time has come and passed. I mean, it's just a new generation. You need new blood. And it's good to see the grown-ups in the room, the senators, recognize that and have a discussion about it and other senators stepping up. And we need some of this to happen in the House, seriously, because Jefferies, in my opinion, is just as bad as Schumer. And that's.
100%.
His vote by what happened yesterday. I mean, just incompetence. And the only way you can look at Jefferies and what happened yesterday is to say that it has something to do with taking APAC money because he didn't try to get everyone to show up for the vote. He didn't make it mandatory. He didn't talk about this with his.
He didn't whip them.
No.
He got to whip the votes.
And then they didn't show up.
To no one job.
And they all take APAC money. So what else can you say about it? You know, the war is the most unpopular thing in the country right now. Seriously.
The war and corruption.
And corruption.
And Hegseth is in both of those.
Yeah, and Jefferies isn't too far behind, you know, if he can't get people to show up and vote.
All right, listen, I just want to note that Chris Van Hollen is an incredible senator. If you go to our catalog, we had him on a couple weeks ago, and you can see the moral clarity that he speaks about. And he has opened the door now. And so do what you can do online. Go to Change.org, sign these petitions, but also you can just get on social media and put in Congresswoman Pressley's name and put in Chris Van Hollen's name so these people start trending because this fight, our vote last Tuesday doesn't fix it.
It continues because we have some compromised people in our own party that, in my opinion, are fascist collaborators. And the fascist collaboration has to end. We have this chance to change this. If we have the do-nothing Merrick Garland, Haley Stevens Democrats leading this thing, not whipping votes, we're sabotaging our entire country. We just cannot have it. All right, that's all we have. Make sure you're subscribed here. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Order my book. It's called Not Today Fascist, and we will be back later with more news.
Dems fail to impeach Pete Hegseth.
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