Jeffries is now a 'hard yes' on impeaching Hegseth, and the House could vote this week
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on ABC on Sunday that he backs impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the war with Iran. Republican Thomas Massie is expected to refile his resolution this week, and as a privileged motion it must get a floor vote within two days. Removal would still need two-thirds of the Senate.
As late as Friday, Hakeem Jeffries was calling for Pete Hegseth to go without using the word impeachment. On Sunday he used it. On ABC’s This Week, the House Democratic leader said he is a “hard yes” on impeaching the defense secretary.
He accused Hegseth of abusing his power, undermining national security and steering the country into a costly war with Iran. “Pete Hegseth has got to go,” he said.
Who filed the Hegseth impeachment resolution?
Not a Democrat. The resolution belongs to Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican and vocal critic of the war, who lost a Trump-backed primary challenge and is leaving Congress.
Massie tried to force a vote before the midterms. Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House home early and the effort lapsed. Massie is expected to file again this week, when members return to Washington.
Could the House vote on it this week?
Yes. Impeachment resolutions are privileged, which means a floor vote has to happen within two days of one being brought up. And this is still the old House. Democrats won both chambers on 3 November, but the new Congress is not sworn in until 3 January.
Republicans are not all singing from the same sheet. James Comer of Kentucky called it “very possible” that members vote to impeach, while saying the decision would be Trump’s. Arkansas’s French Hill wants to hear the debate first.
What would it take to remove Hegseth from office?
A lot more than the House. Impeachment passes with a simple majority of representatives, but it is only the charge. The trial happens in the Senate, and as the US Senate’s own guide notes, the Constitution requires two-thirds of senators present to convict.
History is not encouraging for the Democrats either. Only two cabinet officials have ever been impeached, William Belknap in 1876 and Alejandro Mayorkas in 2024. Neither was removed.
How has the White House responded?
Hard. Trump called the push “extortion at the highest level” and ordered the Justice Department to investigate those behind it. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department would defend administration officials, Hegseth included.
Jeffries, the likely next Speaker, says the new majority’s first hundred days will be about the cost of living and oversight of the administration. Also on the Democrats’ list is the new chief of staff, Stephen Miller, appointed last week.
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