Jeffries: ‘Trump may be in the Twitter penalty box, but he still has access to the nuclear codes’

House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) on Sunday argued for the necessity of impeaching President Trump a second time, saying he remains an “existential threat” despite the imminent end of his presidency.

“The goal at the present moment is to address the existential threat that Donald Trump presents at this time. Every second, every minute, every hour that Donald Trump remains in office presents a danger to the American people,” Jeffries said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“You know, Donald Trump may be in the Twitter penalty box, but he still has access to the nuclear codes. That’s a frightening prospect,” he added, referring to the president’s suspension from Twitter.

“All of our efforts at the present moment are focused on his immediate removal. That’s the right thing to do. The House is a separate and co-equal branch of government,” Jeffries added. “We have a constitutional responsibility to serve as a check and balance on an out of control executive branch. Donald Trump is completely and totally out of control, and even his longtime enablers have now come to that conclusion.”

WATCH: Rep. Jeffries (D-N.Y.) tells Meet the Press that Republicans pushed a “‘big lie’ that Joe Biden did not win the election and the presidency was being stolen.”@RepJeffries: “That is what led to the insurrection, the coup d’etat, attempt and the assault on the Capitol.” pic.twitter.com/XYr0HYBPXn

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) January 10, 2021

NBC’s Chuck Todd asked Jeffries if he had discussed the matter with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), his GOP counterpart in the House, who has directly blamed the president’s rhetoric for the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol last week.

“She’s involved in the process talking to her Republican colleagues about how they are going to deal with what’s taking place on their side of the aisle. I’ll let her speak to that,” Jeffries responded.