House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) held his weekly press briefing as President Trump's sweeping tariffs take effect, and in the wake of yesterday's special elections in Florida and Wisconsin.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good morning, everyone.
00:04From the very beginning of this Congress, House Democrats have continued to make clear
00:10that we are fighting hard to build an affordable economy that drives down the high cost of
00:17living for everyday Americans.
00:22Because the cost of living in America is too high.
00:27Housing costs are too high, grocery costs are too high, child care costs are too high,
00:33utility costs are too high, and insurance costs are too high.
00:38America is too expensive.
00:41Donald Trump and House Republicans aren't doing anything about the affordability crisis
00:48in the United States of America.
00:51We were told that grocery costs were going to go down on day one of the Trump presidency.
01:00Costs aren't going down in America, they're going up.
01:05And the Trump tariffs are going to make things more costly in the United States of America.
01:17House Republicans, Senate Republicans, and Donald Trump haven't done a single thing to
01:23lower the cost of living in this country.
01:27Not a single bill, not a single executive order, not a single administrative action
01:35has been done by Donald Trump, House Republicans, or Senate Republicans to lower the high cost
01:44of living in the United States of America.
01:48In fact, Republicans are crashing the American economy in real time and driving us to a recession.
01:59This is not Liberation Day, it's Recession Day in the United States of America.
02:07That's what the Trump tariffs are going to do.
02:10Crash the economy, which has been happening since January 20th of this year.
02:21And the American people are taking note of it in community after community after community.
02:32But it gets worse.
02:34Not only have Republicans failed to do anything to drive down the high cost of living in the
02:39United States of America, they are trying to take health care away from the American
02:44people and end Social Security as we know it.
02:51Our response to that Republican effort, not on our watch.
02:58We're working hard to save Medicaid and strengthen and protect Social Security from Donald Trump,
03:07Elon Musk, and the extreme MAGA Republicans who are on the run.
03:13They're on the run on the economy.
03:16They're on the run legislatively.
03:19Yesterday they got out of town before sundown because they have no agenda to make life better
03:25for the American people.
03:26And they're on the run politically, which as Democrats we've been saying since January
03:33And now apparently other people are starting to catch up.
03:38Questions?
03:39Thank you, Leader.
03:40So Democrats massively out-funded and out-raised the Republicans in these four House races,
03:41but they were lost by double digits in both the congressional districts.
03:42So what's your takeaway from these races and what do you think this means?
03:43What implications does this have for 2020?
03:44Well, I mean, Florida won, Donald Trump won by 37 points in November.
04:13In Florida six, Donald Trump won by 30 points.
04:16These are deeply Republican districts.
04:20Why in the world were they even competitive?
04:24Why were Republicans panicking in Florida six?
04:29And so as a result, they spent millions and millions and millions of dollars to try to
04:35stop an embarrassment from happening.
04:37And they were still embarrassed because the Democratic candidate in both districts dramatically
04:44over-performed the Trump numbers in deep red Florida.
04:51What's interesting about Florida six is that Josh Wheel cut the margins in Florida from
05:0130 points.
05:02In fact, Walls had won by closer to 35 to about 15 points.
05:12There are 60 House Republicans who hold districts right now that Donald Trump won by 15 points
05:24or less in November.
05:26Every single one of those Republicans should be concerned that the American people have
05:34rejected their extreme brand and their do-nothing agenda and are going to be held accountable
06:13It was amongst Corey's finest moments.
06:34And he's had many throughout the years.
06:39But it was incredible in that he was strong, he was substantive, and he was soulful all
06:51at the same time.
06:55It was an intellectually powerful speech and obviously there was an incredible endurance
07:02that he demonstrated.
07:05But above all else, he spoke from the heart because this is a moment that requires every
07:11single one of us to stretch in ways that we may not have previously been called upon to
07:17do and Corey Booker did it at an extraordinary level.
07:24And it was the Senate floor.
07:29And I initially went over there in the early afternoon just to show Corey support as many
07:35House Democrats did.
07:39But I decided to change my plans and go back when it became clear that he was going to
07:43break Strom Thurmond's record because of how meaningful a moment that is in the United
07:53States of America.
07:56Strom Thurmond was a racist senator who delivered what had previously been the longest speech
08:05in recorded Senate history to defend Jim Crow and bloodthirsty racial oppression.
08:14And for that record to fall with an African-American man delivering a speech from the head and
08:22from the heart about what America actually should be about, the best of America, an inclusive
08:32America, a decent America, not a nasty America, the best of America, that was a powerful thing.
08:45And I certainly think it will be one of those moments that will continue to energize people
08:56across the country as to what this fight is all about, where Democrats stand in defense
09:05of the American people, and what we're fighting against in terms of the extremism and the
09:15mean-spiritedness that's coming from Musk, a big loser, Trump, who keeps losing as well,
09:27and the Republicans.
09:28Last night, there was very high Democratic turnout in these off-cycle social elections
09:29in Wisconsin and Florida.
09:30What does that say to you about the Democratic electorate?
09:42It's been very interesting because all we've heard for the last four months is that Democrats
09:48were dispirited, Democrats are disheartened, Democrats are discouraged, but that's actually
09:58not been our experience as House and Senate Democrats as we travel the country.
10:05It's understandable that Democrats want us to do everything we can to push back against
10:12the extremism from Donald Trump and the complicity, the toxic complicity, the fact that they just
10:22are going along to get along as House Republicans, burying their head in the sand or actively
10:27supporting Trump's efforts to harm the American people.
10:30The American people are disgusted by that all, and they rightfully are going to continue
10:36to ask all of us as House Democrats, as Senate Democrats, as Democratic governors, all of
10:41us to stay in the fight, intensify the fight until we can get through this national nightmare
10:51that Trump and the Republicans are inflicting on the American people.
10:54But folks have been confusing that with this notion that Democrats are somehow discouraged
11:03and dispirited because what we've seen every single month this year, it's Democrats in
11:14special elections all over the country win or overperform, and I don't have time to go
11:23through it all, but in the first special election of the Trump presidency in Iowa, in a state
11:31Senate district, in a conservative part of a swing Iowa district, currently represented
11:37by Representative Miller Meeks, one of the most unpopular Congress members in the country,
11:42and she'll be gone after the next election, barely won in 2024, in a state Senate district
11:51that Donald Trump had won in November of 2024, the Democrat won.
11:57Trump had won that state Senate district in Iowa in January that we were competing
12:02in by 21 points.
12:06Democrat wins by four.
12:07That's a 25 point overperformance.
12:11And then in February, we had a special election in New York for the Westchester County executive.
12:17Trump endorses the Republican.
12:20They believe they have some big mandate.
12:22They can overwhelm us.
12:24Democrats are on the run all across the country.
12:28Trump endorses the Westchester County executive candidate, Westchester County, partially represented
12:33by Mike Lawler, Westchester County executive George Latimer is now a member of Congress.
12:40He vacates the seat before Latimer held the Westchester County executive seat.
12:45It was held by a Republican, Rob Astorino, for eight years.
12:50This district goes back and forth.
12:53It's a swing county in New York City.
12:56Trump endorses the Republican, the Democrat, Ken Jenkins, African American man wins by
13:0130 points.
13:03This was in February.
13:07And then in March, several special elections.
13:11But I'll focus on the most recent one in Pennsylvania, Lancaster County, state Senate district.
13:21That Donald Trump had just won by 15 points, the Democrat won.
13:26By the way, Pennsylvania, one of the 13 original states, a Democrat has never represented a
13:35state Senate district in Lancaster County.
13:39That just happened.
13:43And then Wisconsin yesterday, by the way, in the state that Donald Trump had just won.
13:50Elon Musk pours millions and millions of dollars into it.
13:55It wasn't even close.
13:57They got wiped out in Wisconsin.
14:01That's the kind of energy that we've been seeing as House Democrats from the very beginning
14:06of this Trump presidency.
14:08Despite the efforts by some to project this notion.
14:13That House Democrats, Senate Democrats, the Democratic Party is cowering.
14:17We're not cowering.
14:19We're beating them.
14:22Over and over and over again.
14:24And yes, as Corey said yesterday, powerfully on the floor, more needs to be done.
14:28But those are the facts.
14:32We got facts on the court cases that we're winning.
14:35We got facts on the reality that we continue to outrace House Republicans.
14:43Despite all the doom and gloom narratives.
14:49So Republicans can keep trying to spin the American people.
14:52We're going to keep beating them until we take back control of the House of Representatives
14:57next year.
14:58Can you account for the discrepancy between the Wisconsin vote on the Voter ID Act and
15:07the lawsuit that Democrats you and Mr. Schumer have filed about voting?
15:13Donald Trump issued an unconstitutional and illegal executive order.
15:23We are challenging that unconstitutional and illegal executive order in court.
15:27And we are going to win.
15:31Just like we've been winning in court case after court case after court case.
15:36Donald Trump doesn't have the power to decide how federal elections are governed.
15:42That power is given to the voters, state legislatures, and Congress itself pursuant
15:53to the election clause in the United States Constitution.
15:58But the Wisconsin result was very different than what you're arguing in that lawsuit.
16:04No, it was not.
16:06What Trump has engaged in is a massive overreach.
16:10And it's laughable that Republicans are going to try to spin a referendum that Democrats
16:21may have supported based on the numbers as some sort of vindication for what was a terrible
16:28night for them.
16:30But it wasn't a one-off as I've explained.
16:32And I just gave you the highlights of what has happened throughout America this calendar
16:36year.
16:37Because I don't have time to go through each and every special election.
16:40Thank you, Leader.
16:42Just to follow up on that, are there any takeaways from voters approving and shrining voter ID
16:50into the Wisconsin Constitution?
16:51We are going to continue to protect free and fair elections.
16:56Here's the takeaway, if you want a takeaway.
17:01Why aren't House Republicans here right now?
17:03I'm here.
17:06The Senate's in session.
17:07Why aren't House Republicans here right now?
17:10We were supposed to be in session through tomorrow.
17:15It's because House Republicans were embarrassed on the floor of the House of Representatives
17:19yesterday.
17:20Mike Johnson should have never brought that so-called rule to try to prevent new mothers
17:29and expectant mothers from voting.
17:34We're standing up for family values.
17:36Republicans are anti-family.
17:41So they lose an effort to try to silence expectant mothers and members of Congress who have just
17:51given birth.
17:54They lose that rule.
17:58And then they scramble out of town.
18:00I mean, what does that say?
18:04This is a party that continues to claim they have a mandate.
18:07You don't have a mandate to do a thing other than work with us to lower the high cost of
18:15living in the United States of America.
18:17And you've done nothing on that.
18:21And now you just get out of town?
18:26Wait.
18:27If you were so confident, if you believe that there was some validation in that referendum
18:36in Wisconsin, then you should have brought the SAVE Act, which is a voter suppression
18:41bill that we strongly oppose to the floor this week.
18:45You could have done it.
18:46You could have done it today.
18:49You could do it tomorrow.
18:52We dare you to bring the SAVE Act to the floor.
18:55We'll have that discussion.
18:57That's voter suppression.
18:58The Republicans have launched an all-out assault on the economy, on Social Security, on Medicare,
19:24on Medicaid, on veterans, on public education, as well as on the American way of life.
19:36They have no mandate to do any of it, which is why they are on the run governmentally
19:45and politically.
19:49And the decision to attack Big Bird and the Cookie Monster, I mean, it's just a strange
19:58thing.
20:01Why are they constantly creating mythical targets as opposed to tackling the issues
20:08that matter to the American people?
20:10The reason why the Republican Party and Donald Trump are cratering in terms of public sentiment
20:15is because they are failing to do the things that matter to the American people, like drive
20:21down the high cost of living.
20:22Instead, they are tanking the economy and driving us toward a recession.
20:26That's what the Trump tariffs are all about.
20:29So this effort to try to distract the American people is not working.
20:34It's not going to work in Congress, and it's certainly not working with respect to the
20:40American people.
20:42The judge today dismissed the case against Adams with prejudice, and part of this ruling
20:48says that, quote, everything here smacks of a bargain, dismissal of the indictment in
20:52exchange for an immigration policy concession.
20:55What do you make of this decision, and what does it say about Adams and the Trump administration?
21:02The effort by the Trump administration to extort the sitting mayor of the city of New
21:10York has failed spectacularly.
21:15Failed spectacularly.
21:19We said from the very beginning that this notion of trying to dismiss a case without
21:28prejudice so that the Department of Justice could hold the people of New York City hostage
21:35to try to demand concessions from Mayor Eric Adams was a disgrace from the beginning.
21:45We exposed this scheme, and a federal judge has now put an end to it.
21:51I'm going to go back to the payback.
21:57You mentioned you want to have that bipartisan Republican issue, and they bring this bill
22:01back up to the Supreme Court on Thursday.
22:04In the past, there were a handful of Democrats who did vote for the payback.
22:09It is possible that some of them still want to support it even more.
22:15You're trying to make sure that all of those Democratic members vote again, especially
22:20as we're having this conversation about voter ID.
22:23Is there a different point of view among Democrats on whether there should be a voter ID payback?
22:29There are voter identification laws that exist right now in the state of New York that the
22:38Democratic Party in the state of New York supports.
22:43The so-called SAVE Act is not about voter identification.
22:50It's about voter suppression because it will limit the ability of married women who no
23:01longer go by their maiden name, as is the case with tens of millions of women in America,
23:08from actually being able to vote unless they get a specific type of identification.
23:15When it's clear, based on a driver's license, for instance, that they are a citizen that
23:25is eligible to vote, what is the so-called SAVE Act allegedly about?
23:33The Republicans are lying to the American people.
23:36They claim that the so-called SAVE Act is about making sure that only American citizens
23:42can vote.
23:43The Constitution requires that only American citizens can vote.
23:49Every state requires that right now.
23:54It's illegal for even a lawful permanent resident to vote in federal elections.
24:02Illegal.
24:05And so this is an effort to distract and to try to weaponize and divide.
24:15This is the Republican playbook.
24:16We're not going for it.
24:18There are men and women in uniform who serve this country, are sacrificing, risking their
24:26lives in theaters of conflict all across America.
24:32And you know what?
24:34Under the so-called SAVE Act, their military identification would not be an acceptable
24:40form of ID.
24:42Are you kidding me?
24:47Military identification is not acceptable under the so-called SAVE Act.
24:52It's a voter suppression bill, and it's just designed to distract.
24:59This is the Republican playbook.
25:03Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the Republicans had a terrible week last week.
25:09It's continuing this week.
25:12But they had a terrible week last week.
25:15On Monday, the national security scandal breaks into the public domain, exposing the incompetence
25:26and the clownish nature of many of the highest-ranking national security professionals in the country,
25:35including the Secretary of Defense, who needs to resign or be fired, and we're going to
25:39stay on that case.
25:40That's on Monday.
25:42On Tuesday of last week, Republicans lose a special election in Pennsylvania in a district
25:47that Trump had just won by 15 points.
25:51On Wednesday, it finally begins to break through that the Trump administration is dismantling
25:58the Social Security Administration in real time, which is going to impact the ability
26:04of hardworking Americans to access their earned Social Security benefits.
26:09On Thursday, Donald Trump is forced to pull back the nomination of Elise Stefanik as U.N.
26:19Ambassador.
26:21They were planning in the House her farewell party.
26:25And Donald Trump makes clear so that there's no ambiguity that he's pulling back Stefanik's
26:32nomination because they're on the run legislatively, and their margins are tight in the House despite
26:39the claim of some big mandate, and they're on the run politically, and they're not clear
26:45that absent Elise running for re-election, they can hold a district that Trump had just
26:49won by 21 points.
26:52Then on Friday, we get new consumer confidence numbers that are plummeting because the American
26:58people have come to the conclusion that Donald Trump and the Republicans are tanking the
27:02economy in real time.
27:04Then on Saturday, four MAGA-supported constitutional amendments in the state of Louisiana of all
27:16places go down in flames.
27:20All four of those constitutional amendments were Project 2025-inspired amendments backed
27:26by the Republican governor of Louisiana, the Republican speaker from Louisiana, the Republican
27:35majority leader from Louisiana, and the entire Republican apparatus.
27:40All four constitutional amendments in Louisiana, a state that Donald Trump had just won by
27:4422 points, go down in flames.
27:46It was a terrible week.
27:49What happens on Sunday?
27:52He says intentionally, I'm serious about running for a third term.
27:58Why?
27:59He can't run for a third term.
28:01We're not going to ever let that happen.
28:04Why does he say it, and why do some in this country chase the story as if it means anything
28:12to distract from the terrible week that they've had?
28:18We're not going to take the bait.
28:22On Monday, Cory Booker launches an extraordinary 25-hour-long speech on the floor of the Senate,
28:35reclaims the narrative in a powerful, historic way.
28:41And then yesterday, the evening ends with Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and their MAGA Supreme
28:49Court judicial candidate going down in flames.
28:53Thank you, Mr. Leader.
28:56Another one of your members, Brad Sherman, is a primary challenger, but there's a trend
29:02of these younger candidates getting in wanting to help the older generation of your caucus.
29:09What do you make of this, and what do you also make of the frustration among these younger
29:13people that they're suggesting is happening due to a lack of a decision?
29:17Yeah, I think I answered that question repeatedly over and over and over again in terms of all
29:22the things that are happening in this country.
29:27And we've got to continue to intensify the effort to match the diabolical intensity of
29:35the flood the zone strategy.
29:38Primaries happen each and every cycle.
29:42I had a primary from the hard left in 2022.
29:47My response to that was, come on in.
29:50The water is warm.
29:52It's a democracy.
29:55And the American people will ultimately decide these things in congressional district after
30:01congressional district after congressional district.
30:05Mr. Leader, thank you.
30:06With regard to the Sylvester Turner vacancy in Houston, you said recently to the New York
30:12Times that Governor Abbott is rigging the system.
30:15Do you believe that Governor Abbott is deliberately deciding not to call a special election to
30:22fill that seat?
30:23And if so, are House Democrats planning any sort of litigation?
30:28Yes, and very likely yes.
30:32Thank you, everybody.