4 min read
Major Takeaways
- Jeffries says he is a hard yes on the Hegseth impeachment resolution against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
- A House vote could come as early as this week, before Democrats take the majority in January.
- The resolution charges Hegseth with waging war in Iran without approval from Congress.
- Jeffries also vowed no cooperation with Stephen Miller, who becomes White House chief of staff on Monday.
Hakeem Jeffries, the man in line to become the first Black Speaker of the House, opened this week with a warning shot.
Appearing on national television Sunday, Jeffries said he is a hard yes on impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Pete Hegseth has got to go,” Jeffries said.
He said a vote could come as early as this week, and he predicted incredibly strong support among House Democrats.
1. The Hegseth Impeachment Vote Could Come This Week
Jeffries spoke days after voters gave Democrats control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3 midterms.
The impeachment resolution comes from Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican who lost his primary and is leaving Congress.
Massie first laid out eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth on September 15, and he plans to bring the resolution back this week.
House Democrats will discuss the measure on Tuesday, at their first caucus meeting since winning the midterms, Jeffries said.
2. What the Eight Articles Charge
The first article charges Hegseth with waging the Iran war in defiance of the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
Another article accuses him of seizing Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, without constitutional authority.
A further article charges that suspected drug traffickers were killed in the Caribbean without judicial authorization, with at least 221 deaths alleged.
These are charges in a resolution, not findings by Congress, and Hegseth has vowed to fight them.
He has also refused calls to resign following the Republican losses in the midterms last week.
“He has abused his power, undermined our national security and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran,” Jeffries said.
That war, Jeffries added, “has skyrocketed prices on the American people and made the country less safe.”
3. Why This Fight Lands at Home
For Black families, this is not an abstract Washington fight about procedure and titles.
War spending flows fast while rent, groceries, gas and child care keep squeezing household budgets here at home.
Jeffries made that household argument himself, tying the war directly to the prices Americans pay every single week.
Black service members stand in the ranks that get sent when wars begin, and their families wait at home.
It is the same affordability fight at the heart of the agenda Jeffries laid out last week for the incoming majority.
Even as Black unemployment fell in the latest jobs report, families still feel prices that a long war keeps pushing upward.
4. A Second Line Drawn on Monday
Jeffries drew a second line on Sunday, aimed at Stephen Miller, the incoming White House chief of staff.
Miller steps into the role on Monday, replacing Susie Wiles, after being tapped for the job on November 6.
He is a longtime Trump adviser and the architect of the administration immigration crackdown.
“There is not going to be any opportunity, certainly, to work with Stephen Miller and what he represents,” Jeffries said.
He called the choice awful and irresponsible, and he said Democrats will build a firewall in Congress against the administration.
Jeffries has previously called Miller a dangerous xenophobe and a reckless extremist.
In the same interview, he accused Miller of unleashing billions of taxpayer dollars “to brutalize and kill American citizens.”
That stance speaks directly to the voters who powered the midterm wave, the same Black voters who came home in force on November 3.
5. What Happens Next
The outgoing Republican majority can still kill the effort this week by voting to table the resolution.
President Donald Trump has said he has no plans to replace Hegseth and praised the job he is doing.
Massie has suggested Trump should fire Hegseth quickly, while Republicans still control the Senate to confirm a successor.
Representative French Hill, a Republican, said removing Hegseth is a decision for the president, separate from impeachment.
Jeffries said Democrats will prioritize ending the war in Iran once they take control of Congress in January.
If the vote stalls now, the fight returns in January, when Jeffries is expected to take the gavel as Speaker.
Either way, the first Black Speaker in waiting has told the country exactly where he stands, and the week is young.
