After Democrats lost a House vote to advance impeachment proceedings against Pete Hegseth today by just 7 votes, members of the party have voiced frustration that not all its representatives attended the vote.

As CNN’s Jake Tapper notes, Julia Brownley of California, Lou Correa of California, Chris van Hollen of Maryland, Steven Hosford of Nevada, Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, Nancy Pelosi of California, Brittany Pettersen of Colorado, Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, Haley Stevens of Michigan, Marilyn Strickland of Washington and Frederica Wilson of Florida did not cast votes.

“I don’t know why people weren’t here. Someone may have a health issue. I don’t know,” congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters. “But obviously, having a vote like that on attendance is hard. That hurts.”

Mike Johnson, the outgoing Republican speaker of the House, praised Jim Jordan, who Republicans elected today to lead their House contingent in January.

“Jim and I go back a long ways,” Johnson said in remarks to reporters today, adding that Jordan “was a mentor of mine when I first came to Congress.”

A federal judge has allowed Donald Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the BBC to proceed.

Trump is suing Britain’s publicly funded broadcaster for $10bn over an edited clip that made it appear that Trump told his supporters to storm the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

In a social media post, Trump called the decision by US district judge Jeffrey Kuntz “A Huge Victory against Fake News BBC, a terrible abuser of the truth”.

Trump has a long history of legal action against media companies, including filing defamation and editing lawsuits against the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and CBS’s 60 Minutes.

Here’s more of our recent coverage of the lawsuit:

Related: BBC asks judge to force Trump to sit for deposition as part of his $10bn lawsuit

Nvidia has hired a former acting US attorney to lead an independent investigation into CEO Jensen Huang, and his alleged affair with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy.

“The independent members of the NVIDIA Board have retained former acting U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York Joon H. Kim and his firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz to conduct a thorough and independent investigation,” Nvidia said in a statement.

Kim was previously tapped by Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, to lead an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against Andrew Cuomo that ultimately led to the former New York governor’s resignation.

Nine members of Kennedy family sue Trump administration over 250ft Trump arch in Washington DC

Nine members of the Kennedy family have sued the Trump administration in an effort to block its construction of a 250-foot triumphal arch.

The family’s complaint states that the arch, which is planned for near Arlington national cemetery, would obstruct the Kennedy gravesites, the JFK Eternal Flame and the sightlines of the cemetery, “permanently diminishing these memorials.” It notes that the arch would also cast a shadow over the Kennedys’ graves, especially in the early morning when the family traditionally visits.

The justice department recently said construction of the arch, which is modelled on Paris’s Arc de ⁠Triomphe, would not be completed until after the end of Donald Trump’s second term. On 6 November, a federal judge blocked any construction work from beginning on the arch for 14 days. Trump has claimed that the arch will be converted into a “top grade military complex” replete with drone and ammunition storage space and customised sniper facilities on the roof and plaza.

“This action is about protecting sacred spaces that belong to the American people,” Rory Kennedy and Maxwell Kennedy said in a statement on behalf of the family. “Our parents, Robert and Ethel Kennedy, and our uncles, President John F. Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy, are laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Our uncle Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., who lost his life serving our country in World War II, is also memorialized there. They are among the more than 400,000 veterans and family members buried or honored on this hallowed ground. We believe Donald Trump has violated the laws and procedures established by Congress to protect this most sacred national memorial.”

They added that “Americans from every corner of the country visit Arlington to honor those who served and sacrificed for our nation. A towering arch casting shadows across the graves of our father, mother, and uncles, as well as the graves of so many who have served our country, would also cast a shadow over our democratic principles, undermining the safeguards established by our elected representatives to protect this hallowed ground for generations to come.”

The complaint notes that the arch would block the view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House, “which were designed to face each other to represent national reunification after the Civil War.”

The family’s lawsuit argues that the National Park Service and Interior Department authorized construction of the arch without needed congressional approval. It asks the court to set aside the authorization and block construction of the arch.

Updated

The Associated Press called the winners in three House races today.

Republican Maria Elvira Salazar won her race to represent Florida’s 27th district, defeating Democrat Eliott Rodriguez.

Democrat Darren Soto won re-election in Florida’s 9th district, despite efforts to redraw the district’s lines to favor Republicans.

Republican Ryan Elijah won his race to represent Florida’s 7th district, defeating Democrat Bale Dalton.

Trump celebrates Republicans blocking House from taking up vote to impeach Pete Hegseth

Donald Trump celebrated Republicans’ success blocking the House from taking up a vote to impeach Pete Hegseth.

“The Democrats’ attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED! Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major LOSER, voted in favor of Pete,” Trump wrote in a social media post.

He added, “Again, Victories in Venezuela and Iran, the Best Recruitment Numbers in the History of the Military (Long waiting lists to get in!), and Spirit like rarely seen before, led to the EXONERATION of a Great American Patriot. The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States of America. They must be stopped!”

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Pentagon declares 'total victory' after Republicans block vote to impeach Hegseth

The Pentagon has declared “total victory” after Republicans blocked a House vote to impeach defense secretary Pete Hegseth.

“The referral of these baseless impeachment articles to the House Judiciary Committee marks total victory for Secretary Hegseth, the Department of War, and the American warfighter,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote in a social media post.

“We look forward to ending this sham impeachment in the committee room, where facts will continue to prevail and this distraction can be put to rest,” Parnell added.

Updated

House Republicans block Pete Hegseth impeachment vote

House Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort to impeach Pete Hegseth, rejecting allegations that the defense secretary had repeatedly violated the constitution through his handling of the Iran war and other conflicts globally.

A motion to refer Thomas Massie’s eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth to committee passed in the House, 211-204.

The vote fell largely along party lines with 211 Republicans voting in favor of the resolution and 203 Democrats voting against it. Massie voted against the resolution alongside Democrats.

Updated

A new Reuters analysis shows that the Securities and Exchange Commission brought the fewest enforcement actions in fiscal year 2026 in 35-years.

The SEC said Tuesday it brought 348 enforcement actions in 2026, the lowest number of cases since 1991. According to Reuters, in 2025 the agency brought 456 cases – the lowest number since 2008. The SEC oversees more than 30,000 brokers, funds and other financial firms.

“The new Democratic majority in Congress will closely scrutinize ​whether [current chair Paul Atkins’] SEC is protecting the American people – or working for scammers and Trump’s billionaire buddies on Wall Street,” senator Elizabeth Warren, who is seen as likely to chair the Senate Banking Committee next year, said in a statement about the enforcement slowdown.

A top financial regulator has warned Kalshi it could be facing potentially imminent charges tied to whether the prediction market launched new products without notifying the federal agency Politico reports, citing a person with direct knowledge of the probe.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission privately notified Kalshi of the enforcement activity.

Kalshi spokesperson Elisabeth Diana said in a statement to Politico that the CFTC’s warning “is about a procedural error involving the submission of a handful of contracts, many of which weren’t live” and added “We are already addressing the issue.”

Donald Trump was told in May that the United States had obtained sensitive intelligence that Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, was in a relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy, the New York Times reports, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

Secretary of state Marco Rubio shared the news with Trump on board Air Force One while the president was en route to China, shortly before Huang joined the president.

The news directly contradicts the president’s assertion during a press conference yesterday, when he told reporters “No, I didn’t hear about it then” in response to a question about whether Trump knew about the relationship at the time of his trip to China.

Ben Ray Lujan, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees the Federal Communications Commission, said he expects lawmakers to call on FCC head Brendan Carr to testify repeatedly when Democrats take control of Congress.

At a hearing about an FCC commissioner’s nomination, Lujan said Carr “has been evading questions and ⁠ignoring his responsibilities.”

“I don’t think chairman Carr is going ‌to be around more than another three or four months,” Lujan added.

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Carr told Reuters, “Over the next two years, under Chairman Carr’s leadership, the FCC will continue to deliver great results for the American people.”

With the Pan American Health Organization expected to decide whether the United States can keep its measles elimination status this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells Reuters it will not fundamentally change its response to measles outbreaks.

“Let’s say we did lose our measles elimination status. We’re going to be doing the same ⁠exact thing that we’ve been doing today, which is working with the states,” CDC director Erica Schwartz told Reuters today.

The CDC will make sure “we are ​leaning in to help them provide awareness about measles, emphasizing, reemphasizing ‌that the number one way to ‌prevent measles is the MMR (combined measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine,” she said.

The US achieved its measles-free status in 2000. This year, the CDC has logged 5,182 confirmed measles cases so far – up from 2,289 cases in all of 2025, 285 cases in 2024, and 59 cases in 2023.

Health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a leading vaccination skeptic, has spent years amplifying misinformation about vaccines, including the shot that protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

Here’s a bit more background on John Thune, the Republican senator for South Dakota who has won re-election to serve as Senate minority leader in the next Congress.

Thune was first elected Senate majority leader in 2024, to fill the position left vacant by Mitch McConnell. While that year he faced competition from John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida, he ran uncontested in his bid for Senate leadership this year.

Thune had previously been a critic of Donald Trump and called his role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol “inexcusable”. Trump responded by calling him a “Rino” (Republican in name only) and called for him to face a primary challenge in his 2022 bid for re-election to the Senate. But the two reconciled, and Thune endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential candidacy.

Related: Senate Republicans elect John Thune as next majority leader

If House lawmakers end up sending the Hegseth impeachment resolution to the floor for a full debate, Thomas Massie said he plans to launch a procedural measure to launch a vote on each indivdual article of impeachment, instead of allowing one all-or-nothing vote on the entire resolution as a package.

We’re watching the key procedural vote now, and will bring you the latest.

Here's a recap of the day so far

  • Congressman Jim Jordan, a Republican hardliner from Ohio, has won the election to become the next House minority leader in Congress. Jordan beat Representative Steve Scalise, the current majority leader, by 106-73 in a closed-door vote to lead Republicans from January. He replaces the current House speaker, Mike Jonson, who said he would not run when the GOP cedes control to Democrats in the new year.

  • Jordan, 62, who currently serves as chair of the House judiciary committee, is known as a pugnacious representative and fierce ally of Donald Trump. Jordan was also the first chair of the far-right Freedom Caucus in the lower chamber. He repeatedly pushed the conspiracy that the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden, was stolen. Jordan was also subpoenaed in 2021 by the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which identified Jordan as a “significant player” in the president’s attempts to overturn the election.

  • Meanwhile, Republicans in the upper chamber, re-elected John Thune to serve as Senate minority leader in the next Congress. The GOP senator from North Dakota didn’t face a challenger in the closed-door vote, as Democrats prepare for at least a 10-seat majority in the new year. “I appreciated the opportunity to have an open, honest, and transparent conversation with my colleagues today, and I am honored to have their continued trust and support,” Thune said in a statement, after Senate Republicans met on Capitol Hill today to strategize after their drubbing in the recent midterm elections.

  • Earlier, the embattled defense secretary Pete Hegseth held a press conference at the Pentagon where he blasted Thomas Massie’s articles of impeachment against him. Ahead of House lawmakers holding a key vote on the measure, Hegseth called the effort to oust him from office “a political spectacle” led by “one disgruntled and defeated congressman”. A reminder that Massie, a Republican congressman, lost his primary earlier this year, but has frequently broken with his party and Trump over the years. It has been 150 years since the last US defense secretary was impeached. That was William Belknap in 1876, who served under President Ulysses S Grant. Belknap was eventually acquitted by the Senate.

Chuck Schumer remains confident he has enough votes for majority leader, while Bernie Sanders says he won't back him

Top Democrat Chuck Schumer said he is “confident” that he has enough votes to become Senate majority leader in the next Congress.

This comes after members of his caucus have said they are not prepared to back him as Democrats prepare to take control of the upper chamber in the new year.

On Tuesday, Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who votes with Democrats, said that he would not support Schumer as speaker. “The time is now for change,” Sanders told reporters. “We need a vigorous debate about the direction of the Democratic party.”

Senator Elissa Slotkin, the first-term Democrat from Michigan who won her 2024 election despite Donald Trump carrying her state, said that she will need to see “a concrete plan that’s definitively different” in order to secure her vote. “I’m a no until and unless I see that from anyone, and frankly I suggest that my peers withhold quorum if there’s only going to be one candidate, withhold quorum until you get that plan,” Slotkin said.

The Michigan Democrat noted that she had a “very productive” conversation yesterday with Senator Chris Van Hollen, the progressive Democrat from Maryland, who said he is in “listening mode” about the calls for him to challenge Schumer for the majority leader position.

Slotkin added today that the intra-party battle is not between progressive and moderate, but rather “team fight versus team flight”.

She added: “Do you actually want to fight hard for the things that are going to help people, or do you kind of want to just sit there and look like you’re doing something?”

Updated

Republican John Thune wins re-election as Senate minority leader

Republican John Thune has won re-election to serve as Senate minority leader in the next Congress.

The GOP senator from South Dakota didn’t face a challenger in the closed-door vote, as Democrats prepare for at least a 10-seat majority in the new year.

“I appreciated the opportunity to have an open, honest, and transparent conversation with my colleagues today, and I am honored to have their continued trust and support,” Thune said in a statement, after upper chamber Republicans met on Capitol Hill today to strategize after their drubbing in the recent midterm elections. “We remain united in our commitment to advancing conservative priorities, working with President Trump and our colleagues in the House, and holding the line against Democrats’ efforts to enact their far-left, liberal agenda.”

Updated

Incoming GOP minority leader was accused of engaging in a cover-up of widespread sexual abuse at Ohio State University

Sam Levine, Joan E Greve and Lauren Gambino

Between 1987 and 1995, Jim Jordan served as an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University. During that time, he worked alongside Richard Strauss, a team doctor who was accused of sexual abuse. A 2019 independent report commissioned by OSU concluded that Strauss “sexually abused at least 177 male student-patients he was charged with treating as a university physician”.

Jordan has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Strauss’s actions, but former wrestlers have attested that Jordan was directly informed of the doctor’s misconduct. Earlier this month, four former OSU wrestlers publicly denounced Jordan, saying his inaction rendered him unqualified to become speaker of the House.

“Do you really want a guy in that job who chose not to stand up for his guys?” the former OSU wrestler Mike Schyck told NBC News. “Is that the kind of character trait you want for a House speaker?”

Here’s our 2023 profile on Jordan when he launched his failed bit for House speaker:

Related: Election lies to Fox News fixture: key things to know about Jim Jordan

Jordan has been in office for nearly 20 years, and after the Republican shellacking in the recent midterms, his new role will be crucial for the party to advance their legislative aims and fend off aggressive oversight that Democrats have promised in the next Congress.

As minority leader, Jordan will be the GOP’s main spokesperson and negotiator in the lower chamber, but will be hampered by the 80+ seat majority that Democrats will enjoy. For context, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries (poised to become the next House speaker once his party takes control in the new year) is the current minority leader.

Jordan will also be responsible for managing Donald Trump’s expectations while his party is in the minority. Mike Johnson, who currently leads Republicans in the House, has developed a strong relationship with the president as a loyal foot-soldier who is was willing, and often able, to carry out his agenda.

Jordan, 62, who currently serves as chair of the House judiciary committee, is known as a pugnacious representative and fierce ally of Donald Trump. Jordan was also the first chair of the far-right Freedom Caucus in the lower chamber.

Jordan repeatedly pushed the conspiracy that the 2020 election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden, was stolen. Jordan was also subpoenaed in 2021 by the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, which identified Jordan as a “significant player” in the president’s attempts to overturn the election.

Jordan, however, refused to comply with that subpoena, calling it “an unprecedented and inappropriate demand to examine the basis for a colleague’s decision on a particular matter pending before the House of Representatives”. The committee referred the congressman to the ethics committee for investigation, which found him to be in violation of House conduct – but ultimately did not take disciplinary action against him.

Updated

Republican Jim Jordan wins party election to become House minority leader of next Congress

Congressman Jim Jordan, a Republican hardliner from Ohio, has won the election to become the next House minority leader in Congress.

Jordan beat Representative Steve Scalise, the current majority leader, by 106-73 in a closed-door vote to lead Republicans from January. He replaces the current House speaker, Mike Jonson, who said he would not run when the GOP cedes control to Democrats in the new year.

Updated

US Senate race in Mississippi on knife’s edge as Democrats eye latest midterm pickup

With 97% of the votes counted, Democrat Scott Colom is leading Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,575 votes in the nail-biting US Senate race in Mississippi.

Democrats are eyeing the Magnolia state as their eighth pickup in a midterms cycle where Republicans were blown out of Congress.

The state counts any ballots received by 10 November, as long as they were postmarked by election day – so we hopefully expect a call soon.

On Capitol Hill today, Hyde-Smith told reporters that she’s feeling “very optimistic” despite the lag.

“They’re still counting. We’ve got a few thousand out, so we’re feeling very optimistic,” she said, but refused to answer why the contest is so close. A reminder that Mississippi hasn’t elected a Democratic US senator since 1982. If Colom wins he’d also be the first Black man elected to that position since the Reconstruction era, 145 years ago.

A new statue mocking Donald Trump was installed on Washington’s National Mall on Monday, this time poking fun at bone spurs that the US president was diagnosed with, which allowed him to defer the Vietnam war draft.

Just two days before Veterans Day, the gilded statue – titled The Foot Soldier – appeared near the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden. Created by the Secret Handshake, a group of anonymous artists, the statue depicts Trump sitting down while rubbing his bare foot.

“We honor the service and sacrifice of our commander in chief, Donald J Trump. He’s a soldier in spirit who marched to the front lines of dodging the draft, armed with a perfect diagnosis of bone spurs,” a plaque on the statue reads.

The art piece refers to allegations that Trump dodged the Vietnam war draft in 1968 by receiving a diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels after he graduated from college.

“We salute a leader who knows you can’t spell sacrifice without ‘I,’ and a warrior who reminds us that sometimes when you’re called to stand up, it’s best to just sit down and rest your feet,” the plaque read.

“Toey”, a 6ft-tall mascot of a toe suffering from bone spurs, stood next to the art installation serving as an interactive element, the Secret Handshake said in a statement.

“Draft dodger? I hardly know her,” a person dressed as Toey told the Washington Post. “I’m the biggest toe. The hugest toe. Huge. Hugest toe. Largest toe that anyone’s ever seen.”

Related: Gilded statue in DC mocks Trump for ‘dodging’ Vietnam war draft over bone spurs

Updated

Democrats, who plan to continue the Epstein investigation in the next Congress, slammed the GOP-led inquiry.

Ranking member Robert Garcia said in a statement:

Oversight Republicans have released a report based on an incomplete investigation and zero public hearings on Jeffrey Epstein. The Department of Justice continues to illegally withhold over 2.5 million pages of documents, there’s been no investigation of Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer, and Attorney General Todd Blanche has yet to testify about his role in the largest government cover-up of the modern era.

We will not allow the President and his allies to dismiss this investigation. We intend to hold real public hearings uplifting survivors and asking tough questions of the powerful men who associated with Epstein, including Donald Trump. Our work is just getting started.

House oversight Republicans say government 'failed' survivors in final report on Epstein investigation

Earlier today, Republicans on the House oversight committee released a sharply critical 136-page report summarizing the findings of its 15-month-long investigation into the federal government’s handling of investigations into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Rebuking the government’s handling of the criminal case against Epstein and its release of the files related to it, the committee recommended that the Department of Justice renew its investigation of the disgraced financier’s associates.

“The federal government has failed the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s horrific crimes for decades,” oversight chair James Comer said in a statement.

The committee found that the crimes committed by Epstein after 2005 “could have been prevented and justice served had it not been for the failures of investigators and federal prosecutors in South Florida and Washington DC.”

It also found that Donald Trump was not implicated in Epstein’s crimes and accused Democrats of being “obsessed” with trying to implicate the president.

The committee also accused the US and foreign governments, and major financial institutions, of failing to respond to “clear indicators of human trafficking and immigration fraud.” Despite identifying suspicious transactions that “bore hallmarks of human trafficking and illicit financial activity”, institutions allowed Epstein to “use fraudulent decoy flights and refundable or dummy itineraries to transport foreign women across borders directly to his residences,” the report says.

The report calls on the justice department to interview or reinterview “key witnesses” who were part of Epstein and Maxwell’s inner circle, to investigate further allegations, and to establish a proper process for survivors to access their un-redacted records.

It also urges Congress to pass legislation sponsored by Comer that would allow witnesses and survivors of sexual abuse to speak freely about it, by non-disclosure or confidentiality agreements.

Updated

As we reported earlier, Pete Hegseth has dismissed moves to impeach him over alleged abuse of power in the Iran war as “a farce” that would fail. The US defence secretary made the comments during a press conference this morning, a day after Thomas Massie, Kentucky’s Republican representative, introduced eight articles of impeachment against him. Here’s the clip:

As we bring you the latest on the effort to impeach defense secretary Pete Hegseth, my colleague Anna Betts, has put together a primer about what to know about the push to oust Hegseth, and what happens next as we prepare for today’s key vote.

Related: What to know about impeachment amid effort to oust US defense secretary Pete Hegseth

Vance calls impeachment effort 'ridiculous show' as House prepares for key vote in effort to oust Hegseth

Vice-president JD Vance has also joined the chorus of top Republicans blasting the impeachment effort against the defense secretary.

“Has Pete Hegseth committed impeachable crimes? The question is absurd and the answer is: obviously not,” Vance said on social media. “Like so much of Congress, impeachment has become a ridiculous show that stands in for actual policymaking.”

He echoed Hegseth’s argument at the Pentagon earlier today, and said that impeachment was not the correct avenue for pushing back against policy disagreements.

“Legislation is hard. Impeachments are easy (and ultimately, inconsequential). The irony is that legislators are most angry at Pete on the issues where he’s most correct: repositioning forces away from Europe/Ukraine and reorganizing the general officer corps,” Vance added. “This isn’t about Iran, this is about the fact that Pete took on the bureaucracy at the Pentagon.”

Updated

Johnson slams Hegseth impeachment effort as a 'political gambit for attention'

Mike Johnson, who is in his final weeks as House Speaker, before he becomes a member of the minority party in Congress, said that Thomas Massie – the outgoing Republican who is spearheading the impeachment effort against Pete Hegseth – is a “disgruntled congressman”.

Johnson called the move to impeach the defense secretary “a political gambit for attention”, and commended Hegseth’s performance at his press conference earlier today, where he blasted the attempt to remove him from office.

“I thought he did very well. I expect that we’re going to defeat that one way or the other, and we’ll get on with the business. The idea that you would impeach the Secretary of War at a time of international conflict sends a terrible message to our enemies and our allies, and we’re not going to play that game,” Johnson said. “There’s nothing that went into this. This is just purely for people to get attention, and it’s shameful.”

Updated

Republicans hold leadership elections ahead of losing control of Congress in new year

Republican lawmakers in the House will hold leadership elections today, ahead of the GOP becoming the minority in the new Congress.

In the House, current Speaker Mike Johnson said he would not run for minority leader, setting up a contest between Representative Steve Scalise (who serves as majority leader) and Congressman Jim Jordan, a hardline conservative.

Speaking to reporters, the outgoing moderate Don Bacon said that it is time for a new leader of the party to step forward. “Mike Johnson is my friend, but it was: ‘Hey, the president and I are in the same party. I want to help deliver his agenda’. I think the founders wanted this to be more of a check and balance,” Bacon added.

Meanwhile, in the Senate, members are discussing the possibility of postponing their leadership elections in order to further discuss the fallout after the Republican bruising in the midterm elections. On Monday, Senator Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, sent a letter to party leadership calling to delay the vote. As of now, there is no clear challenger to Senator John Thune, who currently serves as majority leader.

Updated

Ted Cruz: 'Hegseth will step down voluntarily, or Trump will fire him'

Republican Senator Ted Cruz said that the impeachment effort against Pete Hegseth will either mean the defense secretary will “step down voluntarily, or Trump will fire him”.

On an episode of his podcast, Cruz said that it was “extremely likely, if not certain,” that the House will vote to impeach Hegseth.

Today, the House is poised to vote on a procedural motion on Pete Hegseth’s impeachment later today.

As I flagged earlier, that means lower chamber lawmakers will vote on whether to refer Thomas Massie’s resolution to committee for further investigation, or table the measure entirely. If they don’t get enough votes (a simple majority) for either of these options, it will then go to the House floor for a full vote.

If the House were to successfully impeach Hegseth, it will then head to the Senate – where the upper chamber would need 67 votes in order to remove the defense secretary from his position.

Nvidia and its chief executive, Jensen Huang, have been accused of misleading shareholders in a lawsuit over the Chinese spying scandal engulfing the $4.3tn company.

The legal action came as Donald Trump said the FBI was investigating Huang’s affair with an alleged Chinese spy.

According to a complaint filed in federal court in ​California, Nvidia and Huang misled shareholders in connection with the executive’s alleged ​affair with Alice Huang, a former executive of Singapore-based ⁠Megaspeed, who is not related to him.

The lawsuit claims both parties did ​not disclose that the matter raised national security concerns that threatened the chipmaker’s reputation and business prospects.

The New York Times reported on the alleged relationship last month, and said US authorities had concluded Alice Huang ​was a Chinese intelligence asset.

Nvidia described its executive’s interaction with Alice Huang as “not unusual or unexpected” in a comment submitted to the New York Times last month, adding that “meetings with customers are part of a CEO’s job; Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year”.

On Sunday, Huang admitted he had been “unfaithful” to his wife, without identifying the person involved in the affair.

The lawsuit claims the NYT statement was “materially false and misleading at the time it was made because Jensen Huang had an affair with Alice Huang.”

Related: Nvidia and Jensen Huang sued in US over affair with alleged Chinese spy

Donald Trump is in Washington today.

As of now, the president has no events open to the press on his schedule. While he’ll spend most of the day in closed-door meetings, he’ll take part in signing time at 3.30pm ET, and we’ll let you know if that opens up to reporters.

Following Pete Hegseth’s press conference, Donald Trump issued a brief, and glowing, assessment of his defense secretary’s performance, while blasting the Republican representative who is moving to impeach him.

“Pete Hegseth gets an ‘A’ PLUS, PLUS, PLUS for his defense against a disgruntled, angry, defeated, former Congressman, Thomas Massie, a TOTAL LOSER!” the president wrote on Truth Social.

One quick note – since Thomas Massie introduced his articles of impeachment on Monday, the House now has until Wednesday to take them up.

The lower chamber can hold a vote on the House floor, decide to send the resolution to committee (for further investigation) or table the measure entirely.

A vote could come as soon as today. We’ll keep you updated.

Hegseth says Iran war was a 'necessary undertaking' despite Republicans blaming conflict for midterms defeat

After several Republicans, including vice-president JD Vance, said that the party’s shellacking in the midterm elections was due to the ongoing Iran war and spike in prices as a result of the conflict, Hegseth danced around whether he agreed.

“I respect the vice-president greatly, and I’m certainly not going to exchange in any finger pointing. And thankfully, politics is not really my thing,” the defense secretary said. “But I agree with what the president said when he said: ‘hey, if if I had to do this all over again, would we do it again? Absolutely.”

Hegseth referred back to secretary of state Marco Rubio’s sentiment that the war, now in its eighth month, is “not necessarily popular, but it may have been necessary”.

“That’s certainly how I feel. It was a necessary undertaking,” Hegseth added.

A point that Hegseth has repeated throughout his briefing is that Thomas Massie’s resolution is merely a “policy disagreement” that defense secretary said should be solved by legislation and debate.

Hegseth also used his time today to disparage the media for ignoring military successes. “You hate the president more than you love our country, or our troops,” he told reporters at the Pentagon.

During his press conference, Hegseth was resolute that the articles of impeachment are baseless, and that all attacks were carried out legally.

“As for the articles themselves, Iran, the cartels, Maduro, Yemen, everyone was a lawful operation ordered by the commander-in-chief, then ordered by myself, notified to Congress and executed by American warriors who did their jobs,” he said. “We destroyed terror regimes’ capabilities. We sank the boats carrying poison into our communities. We put a narco dictator in handcuffs. These are not high crimes. This is the job, and it’s the job well done.”

So far, Hegseth has simply dismissed many of Massie’s impeachment articles, running through – what he describes – as a series of defense successes.

Hegseth, instead, deemed the effort to remove him from office as an act of “sabotage”.

“It tells them that a single rogue legislator, loaded with personal animus for the president, can attempt to veto national security decisions made by the duly elected commander-in-chief. It puts a target on the backs of American warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time,” Hegseth said.

In his opening remarks, Hegseth yoked himself to Donald Trump, who was impeached twice in 2019 and 2021 – during his first term.

“We’ve seen this show before. They impeached President Trump over a perfect phone call. They impeached him again in his final week in office. Both times they failed,” Hegseth said.

“Now they’re trying a third time. This time against a member of his cabinet. They will fail again. And if standing with President Trump puts me in that company, I’ll take that company every day of the week.”

Hegseth noted that it has been 150 years since the last defense secretary was impeached. That was William Belknap in 1876, who served under President Ulysses S Grant. Belknap was eventually acquitted by the Senate.

Updated

Pete Hegseth begins press conference as he faces impeachment vote: 'It's a political spectacle'

Pete Hegseth has started his Pentagon press conference.

He took the podium and immediately blasted Thomas Massie’s articles of impeachment against him, that the outgoing Republican introduced on Monday.

“What one disgruntled and defeated congressman is attempting is not oversight, and it’s not accountability,” Hegseth said.

“It’s a political spectacle, a personal manifesto driven by ego and resentment. Time for one man’s final days in Congress to try to do damage to this president, this country, and most irresponsibly, the warriors who defend it.”

The US military said it was taking “coordinated and appropriate” security steps after flight-tracking data showed it had withdrawn at least a dozen aircraft from a second British airbase.

The removal on Monday of the American refuelling tankers and other aircraft from Mildenhall Royal Air Force (RAF) base in eastern England followed a threat from Iran, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.

Citing people familiar with events, the newspaper said the “precise nature” of the Iranian threat remained “under discussion” among United States officials, AFP reported.

A spokesperson for the US military’s European Command (EUCOM) declined to discuss “specific force protection measures”, noting various factors can affect them.

“In close partnership with our host nation allies, both RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath remain vigilant,” the spokesperson added, referring to another nearby British airbase.

Donald Trump said war in Iran would end soon as he played down concerns US would escalate military campaign against Tehran after midterm elections.

During a White House press conference, Trump said Israel and Gulf allies in the region were well protected from Iran and an escalation was not needed:

The Senate on Monday advanced bipartisan legislation aimed at speeding up permitting reviews for datacenters and other infrastructure projects, in the first major action since last week’s election that soundly repudiated Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.

It’s a bill that would make it easier to build big infrastructure projects in America – everything from fossil fuel pipelines to transmission lines that would add more clean energy to the grid. And it would roll back environmental and social protections to achieve this goal. That is why climate advocates are torn over the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs act (Baaja).

The Senate voted on Monday to open debate on Baaja in the first of several procedural votes. Senators voted 73-25 on the cloture motion, which did not result in the bill being passed, but pushed it another step forward.

Trump urged all senators to vote for the 417-page bill, which is sponsored by two Republicans and two Democrats in the Senate, but after last week’s historic “blue wave” elections, some environmental and tribal advocates called on Democratic leadership to pump the brakes.

Earthjustice, the Sierra Club and the ACLU have come out against the bill because it would significantly weaken environmental laws including the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa) and accelerate the construction of gas pipelines and ICE detention centers.

Related: Senate advances bill to speed up permit reviews for infrastructure projects

Majorities of Americans want the newly elected Democratic-majority US Congress to act to end the war with Iran and to repeal tariffs put in place by president Donald Trump, signalling demand for quick action to address ⁠the high cost of living, ⁠a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

The ​four-day poll, completed on Monday, showed 71% of Americans – including 93% of Democrats and 51% of Republicans – want US Congress to pass legislation ending the conflict with Iran that Trump launched alongside US ally Israel in ⁠February.

Democrats won their largest majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives since at least 2008 in last week’s midterm elections, in a sharp rebuke to Trump’s Republicans over high costs and a deeply unpopular war. Democrats will take power when the new Congress ⁠is sworn in on 3 January.

On their first day back in the Capitol after comprehensive defeats in last week’s midterm elections, Republicans were divided into two camps: those who saw the catastrophe coming, and those who did not.

“I told you exactly what was going to happen. Over and over and over, I told you,” said West Virginia senator Jim Justice. “I said really and truly, if you weren’t concerned and you were a Republican, you were living in a cave. That was my exact words.”

“No one anticipated the magnitude,” said congressman Warren Davidson of Ohio. “I mean, you can’t tell me that the guy that ran as a Democrat for senator in Mississippi thought he was going to win.”

While Scott Colom hasn’t officially been declared the winner in Mississippi’s knife-edge US Senate race – a state that has not sent a Democratic to the chamber since 1982 – there was indeed plenty of evidence before the Tuesday vote that Republicans were in for it.

Not only does the party in power historically suffer defeats in midterm elections, but Donald Trump’s approval ratings had cratered with voters, even on issues that he had previously polled well on, while Democrats had surged in both special and off-year elections.

Nonetheless, few pollsters or political analysts were publicly forecasting the 54-seat Senate majority and 254-seat House majority Democrats won – both of which may expand even further as ballot counting continues.

“People are mad, and they have a right to be mad. They’re disappointed, and they feel like we haven’t delivered, and we deserve exactly what we got,” said Senator John Curtis of Utah. His state is deeply red, but last Tuesday Democrats managed to break the Republican supermajority in the state house of representatives by gaining at least 14 seats – a feat repeated in legislatures across the country.

Related: Republicans return to Washington to sift through wreckage of midterms rout

Updated

Hegseth to hold first news briefing since May as he faces possible impeachment

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth is set to hold a rare news conference later today as he pushes back against congressional efforts to remove him from office for alleged misconduct.

Under pressure after President Donald Trump and Vice-president JD Vance blamed the Iran war for the Republican party’s sweeping losses in midterm elections, Hegseth now faces impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.

“There’s a lot of politically motivated people who... may have substantial policy disagreements but their disagreements are with success,” Hegseth told reporters on Monday when asked about efforts to remove him.

“I couldn’t be more proud of what our president has done, the decisions that he’s made, the courageous calls that he’s made, the bold nature of our... military leadership, the skill and courage of the troops on the ground,” he said.

The impeachment efforts are being spearheaded by representative Thomas Massie, an anti-Trump Republican lawmaker who is leaving office after losing a primary contest to a candidate backed by the president, AFP reported.

Several of the articles of impeachment – which Massie introduced on Monday – relate to the Iran war, accusing Hegseth of violating the War Powers Resolution, which requires congressional consultation on and oversight of US military interventions.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Massie accused Hegseth of using “our troops to go seize oil for large corporations in America” and derided the Trump administration’s refusal to acknowledge the bombing of a school in Iran.

“I mean, obviously we hit it, and you can determine what kind of missiles from the range and the kind of destruction there was. I don’t think they’re going to get out of that article of impeachment by saying, ‘oh, we don’t know who bombed that school’ – although I think the president tried that for a day or two,” Massie said.

It comes as the president said that the war in Iran is “effectively over” as he played down concerns that the US would escalate its military campaign against Tehran after the midterm elections.

During a White House press conference, Trump said that Israel and Gulf allies in the region were well protected from Iran and that an escalation was not needed.

In other developments:

  • Donald Trump was joined by Dana White, the CEO of UFC, at a press conference. At the conference, Trump defended Hegseth, saying his defense secretary “won two wars”, and called Massie “a stone cold loser” and “sick”.

  • After saying that his deportation policy was “too tough” and offering to strike an immigration deal with Democrats in an interview on 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday, Donald Trump on Monday said his administration’s deportation policy was “very strong.” “Somebody suggested, will there be amnesty? No, but— they came in. They knew the law,” Trump told reporters during a press conference today. He added that he had not spoken with incoming chief of staff Stephen Miller about any changes.

  • In its first major move since last week’s elections, the Senate has advanced bipartisan legislation to speed up permitting reviews for data centers and other infrastructure projects. The Senate voted 73-25 to formally take up the bill, which would shorten the timeline for approving both clean and fossil fuel energy projects.

  • A Utah judge scheduled the trial of the man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk for June 2028. District Judge Tony Graf allocated 105 days for the trial. Graf said the 2028 date balances the defense’s right to prepare with the Kirk family’s desire for a speedy resolution.

  • The Supreme Court will allow the Trump administration to resume border wall construction in the Big Bend region of Texas. The majority paused a lower court’s decision as the case plays out. The Trump administration had filed an emergency appeal, saying there are illegal border crossings and drug seizures in the region.

  • After initially saying he would accept the results of the midterm elections, Trump has begun to cast doubt Democrats’ electoral wins. “Does anybody really believe that this ‘Election’ was honest,” he wrote on Truth Social. Democratic senator Chuck Schumer responded to Trump’s statement, saying that the president’s “return to election denialism was inevitable”.