The Democratic minority leader in the United States House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, has backed efforts to impeach Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth over his handling of the war with Iran.
Jeffries, who is widely expected to become the next Speaker of the House after Democrats take control of Congress in January, described his position on the impeachment move as a “hard yes”.
Speaking on ABC’s This Week programme on Sunday, the New York congressman accused Hegseth of abusing his office and putting US national security at risk.
“Pete Hegseth has abused his power, undermined our national security, and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran,” Jeffries said.
“Pete Hegseth has got to go,” he added.
The impeachment effort is being led by outgoing Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has indicated plans to introduce a resolution against Hegseth as early as Monday.
The resolution contains eight articles of impeachment, including allegations that Hegseth authorised military action against Iran without obtaining the required approval from Congress under the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
If passed, the resolution could lead to Hegseth’s removal from office.
However, the Pentagon told the BBC that it had acted within the law and insisted that Hegseth would not be distracted by what it described as “phony investigations”.
President Donald Trump also defended the defence secretary on Sunday, rejecting calls by Democrats for his impeachment.
“They want to impeach him. Very unfair,” Trump told CBS News’ 60 Minutes programme.
“We had two wars, we won both. We won Venezuela, we won Iran,” he added.
