CNN’s Kaitlan Collins has revealed new details about the White House’s frantic effort to protect Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from an impeachment vote — including an unexpected factor that may have helped Republicans block the effort.
On Tuesday, the House voted 211–204 to send impeachment articles introduced by Republican Thomas Massie to committee, preventing an immediate vote on whether to impeach Hegseth.
But according to Collins, the outcome was far from certain.
“It certainly wasn’t the outcome the White House was expecting tonight,” Collins said during Tuesday’s edition of The Source.
She described a coordinated effort involving Republican congressional leaders and White House officials.
“Sources say that both Republican leadership and White House officials were working furiously behind the scenes today to ensure that Congressman Thomas Massie’s attempt to rebuke and potentially oust Secretary Pete Hegseth from the President’s Cabinet wasn’t successful.”
The most surprising detail involved Democrats who did not participate in the vote.
“It was actually the absence of these 11 Democrats, including Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who might have helped save Secretary Hegseth from facing that vote on impeachment,” Collins reported.
She emphasized that their absence may have helped Republicans unintentionally.
Trump, meanwhile, celebrated the result on Truth Social.
“The Democrats’ attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably FAILED!” he wrote.
The president praised Republican support for Hegseth, attacked Massie and declared the result an exoneration of his defense secretary.
But Collins pointed out that Trump’s statement omitted the potential role of the absent Democrats.
She also reported that Stephen Miller, Trump’s newly appointed White House chief of staff, had been personally reassuring Hegseth.
According to Collins’ White House sources, Miller told the defense secretary that the administration “have his back.”
Collins noted that Miller is personally close to Hegseth and that Trump had continued publicly supporting the defense secretary.
However, she cautioned that presidential support can change, recalling how Trump had backed former chief of staff Susie Wiles before her abrupt departure.
Hegseth also held a Pentagon press conference on Tuesday, which Collins described as being focused largely on the impeachment effort.
“It was almost solely focused on this effort to potentially impeach him, and his reasoning of why it shouldn’t happen,” she said.
She added that Hegseth appeared to take questions only from a prepared list of conservative media outlets.
The procedural vote stopped an immediate impeachment showdown, but it did not resolve the allegations or prevent another attempt.
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries made that clear after the vote.
“This is not the end of it. It’s just the beginning.”
Democrats could revisit the impeachment effort when the new Congress convenes in January. Even if the House impeaches Hegseth, removing him would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate.
For now, Hegseth remains in office. But Collins’ reporting illustrates how much political work went into protecting him — and how the absence of 11 Democrats may have influenced the outcome.
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