House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has backed the impeachment of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as Democrats prepare to use their incoming congressional majorities to scrutinise President Donald Trump’s administration. Speaking on Sunday in an interview on the television programme This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Jeffries addressed an impeachment resolution that is expected in the coming days.
“I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,” Jeffries said. He accused the official of abusing his power, undermining national security and driving what he described as a reckless and costly war of choice in Iran. “Pete Hegseth has got to go,” he added, predicting that the measure would attract strong backing.
Democrats poised to take control after midterm victories
The resolution has been spearheaded by Thomas Massie, an outgoing Republican representative from Kentucky who has been a vocal critic of the US-Israel war on Iran. Jeffries is set to become the next speaker of the House of Representatives after Democrats scored a historic win in the November 3 midterm elections.
Both the House and the Senate have flipped to Democratic control. The party made some of its largest gains in the lower chamber in more than half a century. Democrats are expected to use their new majorities to launch investigations into the Trump administration.
Trump has himself voiced concern that he and other senior officials could face impeachment. In Sunday’s interview, Jeffries said the Democratic majority would move “aggressively” during its first 100 days in office, focusing on affordability as well as what he called “unprecedented corruption” under Trump. “We are committed to cleaning up the mess wherever it’s found,” he said, naming Congress, the Supreme Court and the current administration.
Republicans currently hold a government “trifecta”, controlling both chambers of Congress and the presidency. The Supreme Court also has a conservative supermajority, shaped by three Trump appointees. A new Congress will be sworn in on January 3, and in the coming weeks Democrats will choose their leaders for both chambers.
Garcia seeks oversight of Stephen Miller and DOGE
Representative Robert Garcia formally announced on Thursday, in a letter to colleagues, that he wants to lead the House Oversight Committee. The committee is the chamber’s main investigative panel and has the power to subpoena witnesses and documents.
On Sunday, Garcia told that the influential role played by Stephen Miller in the Trump administration warranted investigation. Miller was named last week as White House chief of staff and has been closely linked to Trump’s hardline immigration policies since the president’s first term. “What we think is that Stephen Miller is the architect of this horrific, unjust policy happening across the country,” Garcia said, pointing to the separation of immigrant families and accusations of due process abuses.
Garcia also signalled interest in questioning the businessman Elon Musk about his leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. The federal initiative led to widespread cuts to the federal workforce at the start of Trump’s second term, and it also sought access to sensitive government data, including Americans’ personal information. “What happened with DOGE, in particular, and the federal employees losing jobs the way they did and people’s data likely being compromised, I think, is very serious,” Garcia said.
White House signals a fight over Democratic probes
Congressional committees can hold hearings, subpoena witnesses and demand documents, giving lawmakers a constitutional check on the executive branch. The House can impeach administration officials if a simple majority votes in favour. Conviction and removal, however, require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, a high bar even with Democrats in control of that chamber.
The White House quickly signalled a combative response. Speaking on ’s State of the Union on Sunday, Attorney General Todd Blanche said there could be investigations into Democratic lawmakers over what he called “threatening” rhetoric. He said he was ready to counter Democratic efforts to probe and impeach Trump officials. “If that’s what this new incoming leadership wants to do, we are ready,” said Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump. “If you work in this administration, you have a lawyer. It’s me.”
Trump made similar remarks in a Truth Social post on Saturday. He called on the Justice Department to investigate Democrats over plans to bring his allies before congressional committees, describing them as “SLEAZEBAGS” who “should go to jail”. “The threats being made by the Democrat Party against innocent Republican Donors and Party Members are absolutely unprecedented, and totally illegal,” the president wrote.
