U.S. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, a Democrat from California, declined to rule out the possibility of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries or another Democrat becoming president if Democrats regain control of the House in 2026.
DeSaulnier made these comments during his virtual End Of Year Town Hall on Monday, where viewers submitted questions about Democratic policy goals and future scenarios.
One question, submitted by a viewer identified as Peter on YouTube, asked whether the vice president would also be impeached if enough Republicans resigned and the president were removed from office.
District Director Janessa Oriol relayed the question to DeSaulnier during the event.
DeSaulnier responded that impeachment of the president and vice president are separate actions and said that if both were removed, the speaker of the House would assume the presidency.
He noted that if Democrats controlled the House at that time, the speaker would be a Democrat. DeSaulnier cautioned that such a scenario would be a “reach,” but said it was still possible.
Under the U.S. Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the vice president is first in the line of succession, followed by the speaker of the House.
The president pro tempore of the Senate is next in line, followed by eligible cabinet secretaries in the order their departments were created.
In the hypothetical scenario where Democrats win the House majority in the 2026 midterms and elect Hakeem Jeffries as speaker, Jeffries or another Democrat could only become president if both President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance were removed from office.
Removal would require impeachment by the House and conviction by a two thirds supermajority in the U.S. Senate for treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Such an outcome would face enormous obstacles, as Democrats failed to secure convictions in either impeachment trial during Trump’s first term, even when Senate margins were more favorable.
Jeffries is widely viewed as the most likely candidate for speaker if Democrats regain control of the House, consistent with traditional midterm election trends.
If Jeffries were not selected, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the current minority whip, and Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, the current caucus chairman, are considered the next most likely contenders.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said America’s founders anticipated the rise of “a rogue president” but not “a rogue Senate,” in an interview with USA Today’s Susan Page, where she defended her record and again accused former President Donald Trump of “cruelty and corruption.”
“I’m really not here to talk about the incoherence, the cruelty, the corruption of the current president of the United States,” Pelosi said, brushing aside questions about Trump’s renewed political dominance.
Pelosi, 85, who announced she will retire from Congress at the end of her term in January 2027, told USA Today her proudest legislative accomplishment was passing the Affordable Care Act, while her greatest disappointment was failing to enact gun control laws.
She also revisited the Trump impeachments she oversaw, saying both were justified and grounded in constitutional duty.
“The person most responsible for impeaching President Trump when I was speaker was President Trump. He gave us no choice,” Pelosi said. “If he crosses the border again. But that’s not an incidental thing. There has to be cause. There has to be reason. We had review. This was a very serious, historic thing.”
Pelosi argued that the framers of the Constitution anticipated executive overreach — but failed to foresee a complicit upper chamber.
“Our founders knew that there could be a rogue president, and that’s why they put impeachment in the Constitution,” she said. “They didn’t know there’d be a rogue president at the same time a rogue Senate that didn’t have the courage to do the right thing. It was bipartisan in the Senate, but it wasn’t enough.”
