A TMZ reporter has challenged a Democratic representative’s claim that he missed the vote to impeach Pete Hegseth because of a traffic jam.
The House of Representatives voted 211-204 on Tuesday to refer articles of impeachment for “high crimes and misdemeanors” against the defense secretary to the House Judiciary Committee, falling eight votes short needed to defeat the procedural motion and force a straightforward vote on articles of impeachment.
Eleven Democrats were absent for the vote, and according to Axios reporter Andrew Solender, “bumper-to-bumper” Washington, D.C. traffic was blamed for some of them.
Rep. Jackson was one of eleven Democrats to flub the vote against referring Hegseth’s impeachment to a House committee.
One of those Democrats was Rep. Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, who said in a social media post that the vote had closed before he was able to make it through traffic. He said he remained firm in his position that “Secretary Hegseth must be held accountable and impeached.”
However, TMZ reporter Charlie Cotton was conducting interviews outside of the House of Representatives chamber at the time of the vote and said he had witnessed Jackson recording a social media video about the impeachment with “time to spare.”
“That would’ve been at about 5:57, 5:58 p.m. The Hegseth impeachment vote didn’t close until 6:05 p.m… This traffic jam thing, it’s not the truth or not the whole truth. He could’ve made the vote,” Cotton said in a social media report.
Jackson’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Cotton had interviewed Jackson hours ahead of the vote on Tuesday, when the representative stressed that “impeachment can’t wait,” and that the U.S. didn’t have “one more day to wait” to punish Hegseth for his directives in the Iran war.
After Jackson missed the vote, Cotton cornered him on his shaky traffic narrative.
“Why didn’t you vote? You were here,” Cotton asked Jackson in a video he shared of the interaction.
Jackson danced around the question and reiterated his traffic jam excuse before gesturing to the steps outside and saying, “If people turn around and look you can see that this becomes a very chaotic area right here.”
“But I saw you right here, with minutes to spare,” Cotton shot back.
“I’m with you, but I’m just saying, it was a mistake and I wish I could answer you in any more detail, but I support the removal of Pete Hegseth,” Jackson said, before being escorted up the chamber steps by an aide.
The post Reporter Calls BS On Dem’s Excuse for Botching Hegseth Vote appeared first on The Daily Beast.
