House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries decried what he called the “toxic bait-and-switch” of President Donald Trump’s leadership on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday.
“Donald Trump and Republicans consistently promised that they were going to lower the high cost of living, and they’ve done the exact opposite,” Jeffries told co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “They’ve shown no interest in lowering costs in the United States of America, which are too high.”
Jeffries said the Trump administration has “broken their promise” to Americans, and accused them of having “no interest in improving the quality of life of hard working American taxpayers.”
“Instead, what they’re trying to do while they distract the American people is to jam the GOP tax scam down the throats of people all across this country, all in service of massive tax cuts for their billionaire donors and wealthy corporations,” he continued. “It’s a toxic bait-and-switch that is underway, and we will continue to push back forcefully.”
While Jeffries blasted his Republican counterparts, Speaker Mike Johnson has asserted Democrats are “flailing,” saying they “have no clear leader.”
But Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia has also suggested the party is without a clear leader. “We’re still looking for that national spokesperson,” Beyer told Axios. “And it could be that Hakeem becomes that national voice. … It hasn’t happened yet.”
Asked to respond to that, Jeffries said it was his “honor to be House Democratic leader.”
“We’re going to continue to work together in an all-hands-on-deck effort to push back against the far-right extremism that is being unleashed on this country with record velocity,” he said. “We’re pushing back forcefully against those efforts every day, every week, every month, every year, and that will continue.”
During the interview, Jeffries also said he was “very concerned” by the Department of Justice dropping the bribery case against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
“Mayor Adams has a responsibility to convince the people of New York City that he will be able to continue to govern in a manner that puts their best interests first at all times, and that he’s not simply taking orders from a Trump administration, a Trump Department of Justice, or Trump officials who do not have the best interests of the city of New York at heart,” said Jeffries, who represents a Brooklyn district in the House.
“This Department of Justice is not promoting law and order — it’s promoting lawlessness and disorder,” he added. “And that’s been consistent with what we’ve seen from the Trump administration from the very beginning.”
As an example of this, Jeffries pointed to the mass pardoning of convicted Jan. 6 rioters “who attacked and brutally beat police officers and then were released back into communities all across the country, threatening public safety.”
Many of the pardoned rioters “have extensive criminal records for things like domestic violence, weapons charges that are serious and rape,” he added.
“This is not an administration that is committed to the safety of the American people. They continue to undermine it and flood the zone with chaos,” he said.
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