Top Democrat Hakeem Jeffries ‘a hard yes’ on impeaching Pete Hegseth

Jeffries – who is favourite to be the next House Speaker, the most powerful member in the lower chamber of Congress – has vowed that the newly empowered Democrats will serve as a check and balance on the Trump administration.

But he said after the midterms results that House Democrats were not currently focused on impeaching President Trump, who was impeached twice during his first term.

Last week, Hegseth released a nearly six-minute video urging Congress to approve the Pentagon’s latest military budget request, before the Republican-controlled legislature’s final days come to an end.

In the clip, he addressed talks of Massie’s impeachment effort, referring to the threat as “sham articles”.

“You see, their policies don’t work. So, their obsession with political theatre disguised as power drives them to try to destroy their opponents,” Hegseth said.

“It’s all about the politics of personal destruction. Didn’t work against President Trump and it won’t work with me.”

With more races still to be called, Democrats have a 254-seat majority in the House, well beyond the 218 threshold needed to pass articles of impeachment.

But they will fall well short of the two-thirds Senate majority required to remove an official from office.