House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has issued a stark warning to the White House: if President Trump does not dismiss Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Democrats will take matters into their own hands once they regain the majority in November.
In an interview on MSNBC's "MSNOW," Jeffries said Democrats would "run Hegseth out of town" if they win control of the House in the midterms. The threat comes as Democrats sharpen their attacks on Hegseth, pointing to soaring gas prices amid the ongoing Iran conflict as a central campaign issue.
"Pete Hegseth needs to be pushed aside by the president, or we're going to have to deal with that situation if he is not," Jeffries told MSNBC. He reiterated his long-standing position that Hegseth is "deeply unqualified" for the Pentagon's top job, noting that he called for Hegseth's firing as early as spring 2025.
Congress returns to Washington next month, and Democrats are expected to force a vote on Hegseth's impeachment—the only legislative mechanism available to remove a Cabinet secretary. Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky initiated the impeachment process in September. While Jeffries has not explicitly said how he would vote, he has consistently advocated for Hegseth's removal.
"What I'm inclined to do is to act consistently with what I've said relative to Pete Hegseth from the very beginning," Jeffries said, underscoring his commitment to holding the defense secretary accountable.
But impeachment is not the only avenue Democrats are exploring. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that if Democrats take the Senate, they should compel Hegseth to testify about the recent disruption of Starlink satellite services in Ukraine. Ukraine relies heavily on Starlink, a SpaceX-operated internet service, for battlefield communications and on Starshield—a military-grade version controlled by the U.S. government—for drone operations. The outage has raised serious questions, and both Trump and Elon Musk have denied responsibility.
"Defense Secretary Hegseth should be brought in," Schiff said. "Anyone who has knowledge of what happened."
Democratic strategists see Hegseth as a liability for the administration, particularly as Trump's legal battles intensify and the GOP tries to rally its base. The focus on Hegseth also aligns with broader Democratic critiques of the administration's handling of national security and foreign policy, including Republican Senator Mitch McConnell's warnings about Trump's approach to Russia and Ukraine.
If Democrats sweep the midterms, they would control both chambers' investigative and impeachment powers, giving them significant leverage over the executive branch. The push against Hegseth is likely to be a centerpiece of their oversight agenda, as they seek to highlight what they call a pattern of incompetence and mismanagement.
Republicans, meanwhile, have dismissed the impeachment effort as political theater, arguing that Hegseth is a capable leader who is being unfairly targeted. The coming months are set to be a high-stakes showdown, with control of the Pentagon's leadership hanging in the balance.
