众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯（纽约州民主党人）周日表示支持弹劾国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯，告诉美国广播公司新闻，他是一个“坚定的支持者”
“我坚决支持黑格斯决议。杰弗里斯在美国广播公司的“本周”节目中说：“所谓的国防部长滥用了他的权力，破坏了我们的国家安全，并在伊朗策划了这场不计后果、代价高昂的战争，这场战争让美国人民付出了高昂的代价，也让这个国家变得更加不安全。”＂皮特·海格塞斯必须离开＂
当“本周”联合主持人乔纳森·卡尔（Jonathan Karl）问及他是否有信心所有众议院民主党人都会和他一起支持潜在的决议时，杰弗里斯说，他的会议将在周二上午“进行对话”，届时成员们将自中期选举以来首次在华盛顿召开会议。
杰弗里斯说：“但我相信，这项决议会得到令人难以置信的大力支持。”。
即将离任的共和党议员托马斯·马西（Thomas Massie）经常与唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）总统发生冲突，他告诉美国广播公司新闻（ABC News），他打算最早在周一重新提出弹劾黑格斯的特许决议。通过在议会提出特权问题，领导人需要在两个立法日内安排投票。
马西的决议包含了八项对黑格斯的弹劾条款，指控国防部长违反了1973年的战争权力决议，以及其他被指控的罪行。
到目前为止，特朗普一直为黑格斯辩护，周四告诉记者，他“做了一件了不起的工作”。主席也在同一天告诉卡尔，“我非常想留住他。”
Hegseth周四还在社交媒体上发布的视频中为自己辩护。
黑格塞斯说：“一名心怀不满、被击败的国会议员及其所有民主党盟友也放弃了针对你的虚假弹劾文章，就像他们两次试图反对特朗普总统一样。”“这完全是关于个人毁灭的政治——对特朗普总统不起作用，对我也不会起作用。”
任命斯蒂芬·米勒为参谋长是不负责任的决定
杰弗里斯可能会在明年1月成为众议院的下一任议长，他周日表示，自中期选举以来，他一直没有与特朗普说过话，他称之为“对MAGA极端主义的巨大批判”。
“这个国家显然已经受够了。我们要为一个负担得起的美国而战，”杰弗里斯说。“人们正淹没在这个失败的共和党经济中。在这方面已经够了。这就是为什么我们要努力降低所有东西的高生活成本。我们必须这样做。”
虽然特朗普在选举后接受美国广播公司新闻采访时表示，他认为他可以与民主党人合作，但杰弗里斯质疑总统的意图，因为他周五宣布决定将长期忠于特朗普的白宫办公厅副主任斯蒂芬·米勒提升为白宫办公厅主任，取代苏西·怀尔斯。
“这是一个糟糕的选择。斯蒂芬·米勒（Stephen Miller）是唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）暴力大规模驱逐机器的设计师，他动用了数十亿纳税人的钱来残酷对待和杀害美国公民，如亚历克斯·普雷蒂和蕾妮·尼科尔·古德（Nicole Good），同时暴力袭击全国各地守法的移民家庭和社区。所以，你知道，在我看来，这是一个不负责任的决定，”杰弗里斯说。
“肯定不会有机会和斯蒂芬·米勒以及他所代表的东西一起工作。我们致力于强有力地反击他们可能试图继续对美国人民发动的极端主义，”他补充说。
卡尔敦促杰弗里斯澄清，他是否意味着他将无法与米勒沟通，就像他有时与即将离任的参谋长怀尔斯沟通一样。
“这种情况不会发生在新任幕僚长身上，因为他和皮特·赫格塞斯（Pete Hegseth）以及其他几个人一起，清楚地代表了政治参与、政治和治理的一个真正有毒的品牌。美国人民刚刚投票赞成根除这种极端主义。
立法和调查的民主优先事项
杰弗里斯说，降低住房、食品杂货、天然气和医疗保健的成本将是他的政党在新国会的首要任务，此外还有结束与伊朗的战争，停止“特朗普关税”，以及“［扭转］医疗补助削减，这使数百万美国人的医疗保险面临风险，并有可能关闭各地的医院。”
“美国人民显然希望大胆的变革，变革性的变革，戏剧性的变革，”杰弗里斯说，并补充说，“我们当然需要扭转突然削减，我们需要延长患者保护与平价医疗法案税收抵免。希望我们能看到过道另一边的一些同事拿出勇气，努力解决这些问题，把事情做好。”
杰弗里斯说，民主党“致力于在新国会的头100天及以后积极行动，以兑现我们的诺言”。
根据ABC新闻的全国选民民意调查，55%投票支持美国众议院选举的选民表示，政府腐败对他们的投票“至关重要”；另有36%的人说这是一个“主要因素”
在周二晚些时候民主党人预计将控制众议院后，众议院监督委员会主席罗伯特·加西亚众议员发表了一份两个词的声明，称：“律师来了。”
“嗯，腐败是有代价的。在整个竞选过程中，我们承诺，我们一定会专注于支付能力和降低高昂的生活成本，以及面对我们看到的特朗普卡特尔给美国人民带来的前所未有的腐败的问责制，”杰弗里斯说。“我们致力于清理任何地方发现的垃圾。这是在国会，在最高法院和对本届政府的尊重。”
就其本身而言，政府表示将调查民主党人。特朗普周六表示，他命令司法部调查他认为民主党人的“犯罪”行为，尽管他没有提供例子来支持他的指控。司法部长托德·布兰奇周日回应了总统的声明。
“我们在过去几天甚至过去几周看到的是公然的威胁，许多许多来自当选的国会议员和一些参议员，他们反对任何保守派和任何碰巧是共和党人的人，”BlanchetoldCNN说。“在过去的几天里，我们已经看到，这种言论甚至上升到他们已经——在他们执政之前，他们已经在谈论没有依据、没有事实的调查和弹劾，只是在那里跑来跑去——这应该是特朗普总统非常关注的事情。我当然也是。”
＇I＇m a hard yes＇： Hakeem Jeffries announces support for Hegseth impeachment
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries （D-N．Y．） came out in support of impeaching Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Sunday， telling ABC News he＇s a ＂hard yes．＂
＂I＇m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution． The so-called secretary of defense 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，＂ Jeffries said on ABC＇s ＂This Week．＂ ＂Pete Hegseth has got to go．＂
Asked by ＂This Week＂ co-anchor Jonathan Karl if he＇s confident all House Democrats will join him in supporting the potential resolution， Jeffries said his conference will ＂have that conversation＂ on Tuesday morning， when members convene in Washington for the first time since the midterm election．
＂But I believe there will be incredibly strong support for that resolution，＂ Jeffries said．
Kentucky Rep． Thomas Massie， the outgoing Republican lawmaker who has often clashed with President Donald Trump， told ABC News he intends to reintroduce a privileged resolution to impeach Hegseth as early as Monday． By raising a question of privilege on the floor， leaders are required to schedule a vote on it within two legislative days．
Massie’sresolutioncontains eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth， accusing the defense secretary of violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973， in addition to other alleged offenses．
Thus far， Trump has defended Hegseth，telling reportersThursday that he has “done a fantastic job．” The president also told Karl the same day， “I have every intention to keep him．”
Hegseth also defended himself Thursday in a video posted on social media．
“A disgruntled， defeated congressman， along with all his Democrat allies， has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly， just like they tried against President Trump twice，” Hegseth said． “It＇s all about the politics of personal destruction — didn＇t work against President Trump， and it won＇t work with me．”
‘Irresponsible’ decision to make Stephen Miller chief of staff
Jeffries， who is likely to become the next speaker of the House in January， said Sunday that he has still not spoken to Trump since the midterm elections， which he described as a ＂tremendous repudiation of MAGA extremism．＂
＂The country clearly has had enough． And we got to fight for an affordable America，＂ Jeffries said． ＂People are drowning in this failed Republican economy． And enough is enough in that regard． That’s why we’re going to fight to lower the high cost of living on all the things． And we have to．＂
While Trump told ABC News in a phone interview after the election that he thinks he can work with Democrats， Jeffries questioned the president＇s intentions， given hisdecisionannounced Friday to elevate White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller， a longtime Trump loyalist， to the position of White House chief of staff， replacing Susie Wiles．
＂It’s an awful choice． Stephen Miller is the architect of Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine and has unleashed billions of taxpayer dollars to brutalize and kill American citizens， likeAlex PrettiandRenee Nicole Good， and at the same period of time to violently target law-abiding， immigrant families and communities all across the country． So， you know， it was an irresponsible decision in my view，＂ Jeffries said．
＂There’s not going to be an opportunity， certainly， to work with Stephen Miller and what he represents． And we’re committed to forcefully pushing back against the extremism that they may try to continue to unleash on the American people，＂ he added．
Karl pressed Jeffries to clarify if he means that he won＇t be able to communicate with Miller in the way he sometimes communicated with outgoing chief of staff Wiles．
＂It’s not going to happen with the new chief of staff to the extent that he lacks -- because he clearly represents， along with Pete Hegseth and a few others， a really toxic brand of political engagement， of politics and of governance． And the American people just voted for that kind of MAGA extremism to be eradicated，＂ Jeffries said．
Democratic priorities for legislation and investigations
Bringing down costs for housing， groceries， gas and healthcare will be top priorities for his party in the new Congress， Jeffries said， as well as ending the war with Iran， stopping ＂the Trump tariffs，＂ and ＂［reversing］ the Medicaid cuts that put the health insurance of millions of Americans at risk and threatens to close hospitals all over the place．＂
＂The American people clearly want change that’s bold， change that’s transformational， and change that is dramatic，＂ Jeffries， said， adding ＂we certainly need to reverse the SNAP cuts， and we need to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits． And hopefully we’ll see some courage by a few of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to work on these issues to get things done．＂
The Democratic Party is ＂committed to moving aggressively during the first 100 days of the new Congress and beyond to keep our word，＂ said Jeffries．
According to ABC News national voter polls， 55% of voters who voted for U．S． House races said that government corruption was ＂crucial＂ to their vote； another 36% said it was a ＂major factor．＂
In a two-wordstatementreleased late Tuesday after Democrats were projected to take control of the House， Rep． Robert Garcia， the presumptive chairman of the House Oversight Committee， stated： ＂Lawyer up．＂
＂Well， there’s a cost to corruption． And throughout this campaign we’ve promised that we would focus certainly on affordability and driving down the high cost of living， and on accountability in the face of the unprecedented corruption that we’ve seen unleashed on the American people by the Trump cartel，＂ Jeffries said． ＂We’re committed to cleaning up the mess wherever it’s found． That’s in Congress， in the Supreme Court and with respect to this administration．＂
For its part， the administration is saying it will investigate Democrats． Trumpsaid Saturdaythat he ordered the Department of Justice to examine what he deemed ＂criminal＂ acts by Democrats， though he did not provide examples to support his allegations． Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday echoed the president＇s statement．
＂What we＇ve seen over the past several days and even over the past several weeks are outright threats， many， many by elected members of Congress and some senators against anybody that＇s conservative and anybody that that happens to be a Republican，＂ BlanchetoldCNN． ＂Over the last several days， we＇ve seen it， that rhetoric even rise up to the point where they＇re already -- before they＇re even in power， they＇re already talking about investigations and impeachments with no basis， no facts， just out there running around -- that that should be something that that President Trump is very concerned about． And certainly I am as well．＂
