Democrats turn up heat on Hegseth, vow impeachment push after midterm victories

US House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has backed efforts to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth over his handling of the Iran war. Democrats are also preparing congressional investigations into President Donald Trump’s administration, while some lawmakers have urged greater focus on public concerns.

US House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries has thrown his full support behind a legislative push to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, accusing him of severe misconduct and responsibility for the ongoing war against Iran, as newly empowered opposition lawmakers prepare to intensify congressional oversight of the administration led by US President Donald Trump. Appearing on ABC News on Sunday, Hakeem Jeffries confirmed his backing for an impending impeachment resolution authored by Republican Representative Thomas Massie.

“I'm a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution,” Hakeem Jeffries stated, noting that Democratic legislators plan to deliberate on the proposal when they reconvene on Tuesday. Condemning Hegseth in strong terms, the Democratic leader added, “The so-called secretary of defence has abused his power, undermined our national security, and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed prices on the American people and made the country less safe. Pete Hegseth has got to go.”

Furthermore, Hakeem Jeffries emphasised that the opposition coalition intends to pursue legislative avenues to terminate the conflict once they assume formal control of Congress in January. “We want to do things like end this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which has made life way too expensive,” he affirmed.

In response, according to CNN, Hegseth dismissed the parliamentary manoeuvre via a video statement, characterising the initiative as “all about the politics of personal destruction” while asserting that it “won't work with me”. The mounting impeachment pressure coincides with broader preparations by Democrats to launch exhaustive parliamentary investigations into executive branch operations following successful midterm electoral campaigns.

Representative Robert Garcia, anticipated to take the helm of the House Oversight Committee during the upcoming congressional session, signalled intentions to initiate inquiries into what he termed the “Trump crime family”. “The days of us not fighting back are over,” Representative Robert Garcia declared.

In counterpoint, Donald Trump condemned upcoming parliamentary information requests as representing “extortion at the highest level, and they should be held accountable”. Additionally, Attorney General Todd Blanche cautioned that retaliatory criminal investigations targeting opposition figures remained a distinct possibility.

Nevertheless, caution has been voiced within select progressive and moderate circles regarding an inquiry-heavy legislative calendar. Senator-elect Adam Hamilton remarked that he was “not as interested in impeachment as setting up guardrails”, whereas independent Senator Bernie Sanders warned against institutional overreach, stating, “We cannot spend all of our time investigating Trump. We've got to stand up for working-class families, make a real difference in their lives.”

According to CNN, Democratic Representative-elect Nancy Lacore, whom Hegseth removed from her leadership post as chief of the Navy Reserve in August 2025, harshly criticised the administration's national security leadership, labelling him the country’s “most unqualified” Secretary of War. “He has caused significant damage to us as a country and put us at risk and really damaged the readiness of our entire military force,” Nancy Lacore told CBS News during an interview on Face the Nation.

She additionally tied the ongoing political debate directly to the broader hostilities, underlining the urgent necessity to “end this war because that has driven up costs extraordinarily high across the district and the country”. (ANI)