LEADER JEFFRIES ON MSNBC: "THE PROTESTS THAT ARE GOING TO TAKE PLACE TODAY, THE PEACEFUL EXPRESSION OF DISSENT, IS ENTIRELY CONSISTENT WITH THE AMERICAN WAY"
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC's Velshi, where he highlighted that Democrats will continue to stand up for the healthcare of the American people and support everyday Americans in our continued fight against the extremism being unleashed by the Trump administration.
ALI VELSHI: Joining me now is the New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, he's the Democratic Minority Leader in the House of Representatives. Leader Jeffries, good morning to you. Thank you for being with us. It's 10:30 in the East. 7:30 in West. There is still time for people to get out and participate in what may be one of the biggest political rallies in American history. It's not just Democrats. It's everybody who's concerned about democracy. I just want to play for you what, I know you've heard this already, what Karoline Leavitt, the White House Press Secretary, had to say about the Democratic Party in this context.
RECORDING OF KAROLINE LEAVITT: The Democrat Party's main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals. That is who the Democrat Party is catering to. Not the Trump administration and not the White House and the Republican Party, who is standing up for law-abiding Americans not just across the country, but around world.
ALI VELSHI: Your take on that.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the so-called White House Press Secretary is an unhinged disgrace. If she's opening her mouth, it means that she's lying. And clearly, we've seen that in this context. The protests that are going to take place today, the peaceful expression of dissent is entirely consistent with the American way. In fact, it's as American as motherhood, baseball and apple pie. It's what the framers of this Constitution envisioned. You know, in this country, when the people fear the government, there is tyranny. But when the government fears the people, there is liberty. And it's important for everyday Americans of every political persuasion to continue to express peaceful dissent with the out-of-control policies of the Trump administration and the fact that Republicans continue to unleash extremism on the country in ways that are deeply harmful.
ALI VELSHI: The Republicans have been pretty effective in their message discipline, where they decided to call this the Hate America Rally, Pro-Hamas, Antifa and Marxist and whatever else they've been using. What's your message to people about what these demonstrations should be?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Donald Trump and Republicans have unleashed this unprecedented extremism on the American people from the very beginning of the time in office that he's had. We're talking about an assault on the economy, an assault on healthcare, an assault on law-abiding immigrant families, an assault on the rule of law, an assault on the American way of life and an assault, of course, on democracy itself. And so, the American people understandably have decided to express, in a way consistent with what patriotism means, dissent with these policies that actually aren't helping everyday Americans. They are designed to help Republican billionaire donors. That's what we saw with the One Big Ugly Bill. And now, of course, as we are in day 18 of the Trump-Republican shutdown, Republicans have shown zero interest in reopening the government and zero interest in actually extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits, which is going to result in tens of millions of people experiencing dramatically increased healthcare premiums, copays and deductibles. It's all consistent with the Trump administration that continues to hurt the American people and unleash cruelty, which apparently is the point of them being in office.
ALI VELSHI: Except a whole bunch of people with whom you don't normally agree, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, are saying that the phone calls that are coming into their offices are about healthcare costs rising and healthcare premiums rising. This is, in theory, going to hurt a whole lot of people in Donald Trump's base.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Without question. In fact, I think the five states that rely the most on the Affordable Care Act tax credits are all states that Donald Trump won. We're talking about West Virginia, Wyoming, Alaska, Tennessee and Mississippi. 45% of the people who benefit from Affordable Care Act tax credits are Republicans, 35% are Democrats and the rest are Independents. So this is an American issue. And the assault on healthcare that has been unleashed on the American people hurts everybody. People in rural America, urban America, small-town America, the heartland of America, working-class America and, of course, Black and brown communities all across America. So, what Democrats are fighting for is to stand up for Medicaid, stand up for Medicare, for the Affordable Care Act, stand up to push back against this effort to close our hospitals, our nursing homes and our community-based health clinics. We're standing up for the principle that in America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, access to high-quality healthcare shouldn't simply be a privilege just available for the wealthy and the well-off. It should be a right available to all Americans.
ALI VELSHI: Leader Jeffries, Adelita Grijalva is becoming famous. She was elected into a seat that was held by her father in Arizona 24, 25 days ago. She hasn't been sworn in. There's a whole lot of gaslighting going on about why she hasn't been sworn in. Let's listen to some of it from House Speaker Mike Johnson.
RECORDING OF SPEAKER JOHNSON: I thought Hakeem was a better attorney than that. It's a publicity stunt by a Democrat Attorney General in Arizona who sees a national moment and wants to call me out. She has nothing whatsoever to do with what's happening in Congress. I would say to Rep. Grijalva, if her Democrat colleagues in leadership have not informed her, you can be serving your constituents right now. You have an office. She's hired 16 employees.
ALI VELSHI: That's a little bit of gaslighting. She is in office, she has hired employees, but she's not been sworn in as a Member of Congress. And there's no prohibition in a shutdown about her not being sworn in.
LEADER JEFFRIES: There's absolutely no prohibition. She should have been sworn in weeks ago. The fact that she hasn't been sworn is a big tell. Mike Johnson and the Republicans clearly are trying to hide the Epstein files from the American people because they've been ordered to do so by their boss Donald Trump. And the challenge is, they don't want to swear in someone like Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, who understands that as Members of Congress, we don't work for Donald Trump. We don't for JD Vance. We don't work for their billionaire donors. We work for the American people.
ALI VELSHI: Leader Jeffries, good to see you. Thank you for joining us this morning.
Full interview can be watched here.