LEADER JEFFRIES: "DONALD TRUMP'S PRESIDENCY HAS BEEN A FAILURE"
Last night, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and MS NOW's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell to highlight the real State of the Union under Donald Trump and Rubber Stamp Republicans, who have abdicated their responsibilities to make life better for hardworking American taxpayers.
JOHN BERMAN: Joining us now is House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who has lived through the storm either here or in Washington today. You can't avoid it no matter where you go. Listen, Leader, you've seen the new CNN poll. You see that a majority of Americans want to hear about the economy, want to hear about cost of living. You heard the President say we have the greatest economy we've ever had. What are Democrats offering as an alternative vision tomorrow night?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, first of all, Donald Trump's presidency has been a complete and total failure. He's failed on the economy, failed to lower costs. He's failed to fix our broken healthcare system and address the Republican healthcare crisis. He certainly has failed to deliver an immigration enforcement system that's fair, just and humane. ICE is completely, totally out of control, and they need to be reined in. From our perspective, as Democrats, we are laser-focused on driving down the high cost of living, making life more affordable for the American people. We recognize that far too many people in this country are struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, can't thrive and can barely survive. And that's not acceptable in this great country of ours, the wealthiest country in the history of the world.
JOHN BERMAN: We were just talking about Iran. Kaitlan was giving us some reporting on what the White House has been saying about that. The Joint Chiefs reportedly raising some concerns about a possible U.S. strike and how difficult it would be. What do you want to hear from the President tomorrow night in terms of a possible justification for military action?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we will have a Gang of Eight briefing at some point during the day, prior to the remarks that he delivers to the American people. I think the American people are appropriately skeptical of any further military action. The last thing that we need at this time is another failed foreign forever war that the United States of America is involved in that will be costly in terms of American lives and costly in terms of American resources. We should be using taxpayer dollars right now to make life more affordable for the American people, as opposed to engaging in another reckless adventure. And by the way, the Trump administration should not take any unilateral military action without explicit congressional approval, consistent with the Constitution and Congress's sole authority to declare war.
JOHN BERMAN: As for tomorrow night, you've given Democratic Members the option to skip the event if they want to. For those who choose to attend, how would you like to see them behave?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, listen, it's my expectation that Members who choose to attend will be there in silent defiance, of course, skeptical of the remarks that the President is going to try to deliver in terms of his spin. But he's not going to be able to spin his way out of the failures that have occurred over the last 400 days or so in terms of Donald Trump's presidency. This is someone who promised to lower costs on day one, but costs haven't gone down in the United States of America. Costs have gone up. The affordability crisis is not a Democratic hoax, as the President claims. It's very real. Housing costs out of control. Healthcare costs out of control. Grocery prices out of control. Utility costs and electricity bills out of control. Child care costs out of control. And the President has done nothing about it. In fact, the Trump tariffs have made the situation worse.
Full CNN interview can be watched here.
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LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Leading off our discussion tonight is House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Thank you very much for joining us tonight, Mr. Leader. I'd like to get your reaction to the Supreme Court decision on Donald Trump's illegal tariffs.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the Supreme Court absolutely did the right thing here. The Trump tariffs have been a major cost upon the American people. We think the average cost is about $1700 more in additional expense on everyday Americans. This is in an environment where the affordability crisis is already out of control. And of course as you pointed out, Lawrence, Donald Trump had zero authority to do this. This was unlawful and unconstitutional. And now the question is, how do we make sure, congressionally, that the businesses and the consumers and the farmers who were adversely impacted by the Trump tariffs can get their money back?
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: The Trump administration is saying well they'll just have to go to court to try to get their money back.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, what the Supreme Court decision said is that the process will be set forth by the lower court and so we'll await the lower decision. At the same period of time, legislation has been introduced by Democrats in both the House and the Senate to try to create a mechanism to ensure that refunds are issued and that we can find a way for some of the harm that has been done to everyday Americans to be repaired.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: So, we saw in polling about two-thirds of Americans were opposed to the Trump tariffs before they knew from the Supreme Court that the tariffs were unconstitutional and illegal, tariffs that these people have already paid.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I think Donald Trump underestimated the American people. He promised that he would lower costs on day one. Of course, costs haven't gone down. Costs have gone up. The American people know that Republicans haven't done a damn thing to make their life more affordable in an environment where far too many people are working hard. They're playing by the rules. But they're struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. Cannot thrive and can barely survive. That's an unacceptable situation in the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world. And they know that the Trumps tariffs, by way of example, have made things worse from a President who promised to make things better. As Democrats, you know, we are going to continue to focus on driving down the high cost of living, dealing with a housing crisis, a healthcare crisis, a child care crisis, a utility bill crisis and a grocery bill crisis all at the same time that Donald Trump and Republican policies have made worse.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: What would you suggest voters focus on in the State of the Union address tomorrow night?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, if Donald Trump was actually being authentic to the American people—and we know that's not going to be the case—he would acknowledge that his presidency has been a failure over the last 400-plus days. He's failed on the economy. He's failed on healthcare. He's failed on immigration. ICE is completely and totally out of control. They need to be reined in. Taxpayer dollars should be spent to make life more affordable for the American people, not brutalize or kill them, as has been the case tragically with Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. But we know Donald Trump is not going to acknowledge any of this. In fact, what he's probably going to suggest is that he has solved the affordability crisis. But this is one of the reasons why we're seeing presidential approval numbers that are at historic lows. Latinos abandoning Donald Trump in large numbers. Younger voters doing the same thing. Independents doing exactly the same thing. Now, Donald Trump has taken a my-way-or-the-highway approach from the very beginning, and that has failed the American people. We should see whether he comes before the Congress tomorrow and offers to change direction, but I'm not holding my breath.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: The Epstein Files obviously is gripping the United Kingdom as much as the United States. We have seen arrests there. We're going to talk about that later in this program, but what would you, what should Donald Trump say tomorrow night about the Epstein Files given the country's interest in it.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, he should direct his so-called Department of Justice to release all of the files in compliance with the law that he signed. The reality is the Department of Justice is withholding about three million documents from the American people. We're thankful for the bravery and the courage and the strength of the Epstein survivors, many of whom will be in that chamber tomorrow. He should promise them the accountability and the transparency that they have fought hard to achieve.
LAWRENCE O'DONNELL: Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the next Speaker of the House if the Democrats win the congressional elections. Thank you very much for leading off our discussion tonight.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.
Full MS NOW interview can be watched here.