Top House Democrat 'a hard yes' on impeaching Pete Hegseth

The frontrunner to lead the US House of Representatives after Democrats take control of Congress in January has said he is "a hard yes" for impeaching Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.

New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries told ABC's programme This Week that Hegseth had "abused his power, undermined our national security, and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran".

Outgoing Republican congressman Thomas Massie, a foe of President Donald Trump, has said he plans to introduce a resolution to impeach Hegseth as early as Monday.

In a statement to the BBC, the Pentagon said it had followed the law and that Hegseth would not be deterred by "phony investigations".

Congress returns to session this week after the Democrats' midterm elections landslide victory.

Massie's resolution contains eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, including accusing him of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973 for America's role in the war with Iran.

"I'm a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution," Jeffries told ABC on Sunday.

"Pete Hegseth has got to go," he continued.

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.