House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his leadership team on Thursday called for Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr to resign over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel.

Why it matters: The House Democratic leaders are accusing Carr of using his government position to pressure a private company to crack down on protected First Amendment speech — and they're promising an investigation.

"House Democrats will make sure the American people learn the truth, even if that requires the relentless unleashing of congressional subpoena power. This will not be forgotten," the lawmakers said.The FCC and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What happened: ABC News announced Wednesday that they were pulling Kimmel's late night show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, "indefinitely" following his comments about the Charlie Kirk assassination.

"We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it," Kimmel said on his Monday night show.Carr responded in an interview on Wednesday saying "it's long past the time" that Kimmel's show not be run any more and threatening the possibility of fines and license revocations.

Driving the news: "Brendan Carr, the so-called Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has engaged in the corrupt abuse of power," Jeffries and his deputies said in a joint statement.

"He has disgraced the office he holds by bullying ABC, the employer of Jimmy Kimmel, and forcing the company to bend the knee to the Trump administration. FCC Chair Brendan Carr should resign immediately."In addition to Jeffries, the statement was signed by Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Democratic caucus chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), caucus vice chair Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), Assistant Leader Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.).