LEADER JEFFRIES: "WE NEED A CONGRESS TO ACTUALLY CONDUCT ITSELF LIKE A SEPARATE AND CO-EQUAL BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT"
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC's The Beat, where he emphasized that Republicans are neglecting their duties to the American people by refusing to address the Republican healthcare crisis and swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva.
ARI MELBER: I want to bring in as promised, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Good evening. Your response first to that DOJ story.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the Trump Department of Injustice at this point in time is completely and totally out of control. The Department of Injustice has been weaponized to target Trump critics and adversaries and perceived enemies in ways that undermine the notion of this country as one anchored in the rule of law. And now, of course, as you've pointed out, Donald Trump is trying to use the Department of Injustice as part of his ongoing pay-to-play scheme, the largest that we've seen in the history of the country, and he's doing it without any shame, and it remains to be seen whether anyone within the administration is willing to actually stand up to him at this point in time, which is why we need a Congress to actually conduct itself like a separate and co-equal branch of government, as opposed to what we've seen under House Republicans, which is just a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda.
ARI MELBER: Would this be a valid use of taxpayer funds, and can Congress do anything about it?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, it's a completely and totally invalid use of taxpayer funds. The irony of it all is that the government is shut down right now. It remains shuttered because Donald Trump and Republicans are unwilling to find the resources necessary to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits and prevent tens of millions of people from experiencing dramatically increased premiums, co-pays and deductibles. But he has all the time in the world to engage in another grift to enrich himself for legitimate investigation that occurred under the prior administration. It is definitively illegal. Congress has the power of the purse, and you can't simply transfer $230 million of taxpayer funds because Donald Trump has directed his sycophants within his administration to do just that. And so I expect that if they were to engage in this type of unlawful action, of course, they will be sued aggressively, immediately and I think Ari, as you pointed out, appropriately so. The statute of limitations on all of this behavior is five years, and so accountability is coming for all of these people who are engaging in real-life criminal activity at the behest of Donald Trump. The Supreme Court may have given him some immunity. It hasn't given any of these other sycophants immunity.
ARI MELBER: Right, as you mentioned, and I mentioned that our reporting, because that's our understanding of it. These are—are pretty clear rules, and attorneys, especially government attorneys, have extra obligations. You mentioned the shutdown. Where do we go from here? Are we to understand that Democrats are not going to give in? And if they don't give in, then how long are we bracing for a shutdown? And what do you think you're achieving?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, this is week four of the Trump shutdown, and we've been clear that we want to reopen the government. We want to find a bipartisan path forward to enacting a spending agreement, but that spending agreement actually has to make life better for the American people, and at the same time, we have to decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis that is crushing people all across the country, including working-class America, rural America, urban America, small town America, the heartland of America and Black and brown communities all throughout the United States of America. It's a real-time crisis, as Marjorie Taylor Greene herself has acknowledged. And so we're going to continue to hold the line. I'm thankful for the courage and the principled strength that has been shown by my colleagues on the other side of the Capitol, Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats. We're in this fight until we win this fight on behalf of the American people.
ARI MELBER: What do you see in the No Kings protests out there, and is it broadly aligned with the Democratic agenda? Do you view it as potentially independent, but concerned about autocracy? And how are you trying to meet that energy?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, the protests were peaceful, they were patriotic and they were powerful, and another indication that the American people are not standing for the type of extremism that we have consistently seen be unleashed on the American people by Donald Trump and his administration from day one. All of the promises that they made about doing things like lowering the high cost of living have been broken, and what we've seen from this administration is implementation of their toxic Project 2025 agenda, which they lied about all of last year. And it's extraordinary to see more than 7 million people show up across the country and consistent with the best of what America has to offer in terms of pushing back peacefully but aggressively against an out-of-control administration, which is the case right now. And it will make a difference as we continue to march forward toward accountability. We'll see some of that accountability two weeks from today, on November 4, in New Jersey, I believe, in Virginia and in terms of Prop 50 in California, where we are working hard to stop Trump from stealing the midterm elections by engaging in this aggressive gerrymandering. And that accountability will continue as we move forward beyond this upcoming election.
ARI MELBER: Leader Jeffries, another difficult topic that weighs on a lot of our leaders are these threats of violence. In this instance, as you well know, there was an individual who had been convicted of storming the Capitol here, and they had threatened you. I have a headline: 'Pardoned Capitol Rioter Charged With Threatening To Kill Hakeem Jeffries At A New York City Event This Week.' The complication here—I've heard you and others condemn all, of course, political violence—here, you would be a potential target. But should this person be out of federal prison in the first place? That would seem a relevant safety consideration, given that the President did choose to pardon them.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, the real problem that the country confronts—and I'm thankful for local, state and federal law enforcement in terms of identifying the immediacy of this threat and taking decisive action, but the American people across the country are under threat because Donald Trump made the decision to pardon hundreds of violent felons who brutally beat police officers on January 6 and have now been unleashed in communities all across the country. And we've seen multiple instances of these January 6 rioters, having engaged in reoffending, having engaged in violent crimes and other things that are jeopardizing the safety of the American people. That's the big problem that we confront right now, and you know, we just need a handful of Republicans to actually raise their voices and make clear that this is problematic. But of course, they can't do it. When Donald Trump says jump, they just respond, 'How high?'
ARI MELBER: I'm jumping around because your time is limited. We are told that with a new Member sworn in, you would get to a vote on the Epstein files. Can you tell us the status of that and what would the American people potentially learn?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva was elected by the people of Arizona four weeks ago today, and it remains the case that Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republicans have continued to prevent her from being sworn in. Why? We believe it's because she will be the 218th signature on a discharge petition that will force an up-or-down vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, and that legislation will pass. And House Republicans and Donald Trump clearly want no part of that type of transparency and accountability.
ARI MELBER: Can you say—
LEADER JEFFRIES: They don't want that information.
ARI MELBER: Can you say, if we'll learn much? I mean, it's a tricky one, because you don't know what they have or are hiding. So do you view it as the right thing to do in theory, or you're under the view based on what you know that there's more information there to come out?
LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, it's either one of two things that are true. Either Donald Trump and the extremists spent years lying to their own base about what was in the Epstein files, fanning the flames of a conspiracy theory that people were being protected, or it is, in fact, the case that the files are very damning in terms of what's in them. That's probably more likely than not the scenario that we'll confront, and that's why they're doing everything they can to hide them, including by unlawfully preventing Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva from being sworn in, but we're going to stay on the case. She is going to get sworn in, and we're going to see these files released and accountability brought to any of the wrongdoers who are in that file.
ARI MELBER: I know your time is short. I appreciate you coming on The Beat here with a lot going on. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on several topics. Thank you, sir.
LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.
ARI MELBER: Appreciate it.
Full interview can be watched here.