The top Democrat widely expected to be the next US House of Representatives Speaker 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 as early as Monday to introduce a resolution to impeach Hegseth, which could result in his removal from office.

The Pentagon told the BBC it had followed the law and that Hegseth would not be deterred by "phony investigations".

As the current Democratic minority leader in the House, Jeffries is favourite to become Speaker when his party takes control of Congress in January following their landslide victory in last week's midterm elections.

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

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

Kentucky congressman Massie's resolution contains eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth, alleging that he made war on Iran without the required congressional authorisation under the War Powers Resolution of 1973.

President Trump defended Hegseth on Sunday and pushed back againt Democrats' calls to impeach the Pentagon chief.

"They want to impeach him. Very unfair," Trump told CBS News' 60 Minutes. "We had two wars, we won both. We won Venezuela, we won Iran."

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