LEADER JEFFRIES ON NY1: “HOUSE DEMOCRATS WILL MAKE SURE THAT TAXPAYER DOLLARS ARE SPENT TO MAKE LIFE MORE AFFORDABLE”

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries joined NY1's Inside City Hall, where he highlighted that House Democrats are unified in the fight to deliver an affordable America and hold the crooks accountable for shortchanging hardworking American taxpayers.

ERROL LOUIS: I'm Errol Louis, coming to you tonight from Washington, DC. I spent the day on Capitol Hill, where dozens of newly elected Members of Congress are in town for orientation. And earlier today I sat down with Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the Leader of the House Democrats, who is poised to become the next Speaker of the House. Jeffries would be the first Speaker from New York City and the first Black Speaker. We talked about how Democrats won back the House with the largest majority in decades. And how he plans to take on the Trump administration, including a vote on possibly impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

ERROL LOUIS: Let's talk about the great game. The big news of the day is that one of your Republican colleagues, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, has introduced articles of impeachment against the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. That's for unauthorized military actions in Iran, Yemen, Venezuela, extrajudicial military killings, civilian casualties in Iran, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Procedurally, what happens now?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, Republicans will likely move to try to either refer the resolution to the Judiciary Committee or table it as a way not to have to vote on the substance. Pete Hegseth has abused his power, undermined America's national security and gotten us involved in this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran. So I'm a hard Yes on the Hegseth impeachment resolution, and believe that there will be strong Democratic support for that resolution passing.

ERROL LOUIS: Is it the choice of the current Speaker whether or not to table it as opposed to letting it go to the Floor for a vote?

LEADER JEFFRIES: That's correct. So the majority has the ability to control the Floor in this regard and has the ability to bring a motion to table or a motion to refer, and it's our understanding that's what's going to happen. Now, if Pete Hegseth was an honorable individual, which he's not, in terms of how he's conducted himself up until this point, and this is the most unqualified so-called Secretary of Defense in American history, he's been a disaster. He should have just stepped down, as opposed to putting the country through this type of proceeding when it's all unnecessary, given the fact that we know at the end of the day Pete Hegseth is not going to be around for much longer.

ERROL LOUIS: What makes you so sure of that?

LEADER JEFFRIES: It's my view that Donald Trump is, at some point, going to make the decision that Pete Hegseth's continued presence is a liability as we transition from where we are right now to where we will be in the next Congress, given how decisively MAGA extremism has been eradicated. Along with Stephen Miller, Pete Hegseth is the poster child for MAGA extremism and for the incredible amount of cruel overreach that has taken place over the last two years, and so it doesn't make a lot of sense to me for Pete Hegseth to be sticking around.

ERROL LOUIS: If it's tabled and the 119th Congress expires and the new Democratic majority comes into power, would you then, what, just move it to the Floor for a vote?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we'll put that in the hands of the soon-to-be Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Jamie Raskin, as to what the proper procedure will be. But I think you're going to see over 200 Democrats go on record this week making it clear that Pete Hegseth has got to go.

ERROL LOUIS: Is the idea simply to remove him, or is this leverage to begin winding down the war?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we have to end the reckless and costly war of choice. This is a war that we should have never gotten into. It's undermined America's national security. Iran is stronger now than before the war started. There's no exit strategy. Donald Trump and Republicans promised not to start endless wars, but to stop them, and then turned around and have gotten us involved in an endless war in the Middle East. And we know that the war is directly connected to dramatically increasing the high cost of living, dramatically increasing gas prices and fertilizer prices, food prices and diesel costs.

ERROL LOUIS: The other thing going on right now is there's a lot of hustle and bustle and new signs going up all around the Capitol. We noticed on your desk-we were poking around before you got here-that you have a copy of the rules of the House, I guess the operational Bible, you have a copy of the Christian Bible, the actual Bible and sort of face book-type pages with the faces of all these brand new Members you're dealing with. As of today, what is the size of the Democratic majority-

LEADER JEFFRIES: So, right now-

ERROL LOUIS: -of the next Congress?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Right now, we're looking at 258 seats and counting. There are about four seats right now that we're tracking. We think it's more likely than not that we get to at least 260. Right now at 258, it's the largest majority that either party has had this century and one of the largest incoming classes since 1974, the Watergate class. These are extraordinary Americans. We have pastors and combat veterans, drill instructors, we have police officers, firefighters, smokejumpers, doctors, nurses, union leaders, teachers and even a Tejano music superstar, Bobby Pulido, who's going to have to briefly leave orientation to go to the Latin Grammy Awards because he's been nominated.

ERROL LOUIS: How about that? Well, give us a sense of your personal role in the campaign to win this very diverse incoming class in this new majority. I read-it was reported that you visited 50 cities in the last year. Is that right?

LEADER JEFFRIES: That's probably correct-cities, towns and counties. And I had the opportunity to spend time with and campaign for a lot of our frontline Members who are in battleground districts all across the country. We didn't lose a single Democratic incumbent. That rarely, if ever, happens, but we were able to pull that off. And I'm so thankful for all of the returning Members of Congress who made the decision, even though more than a dozen of them were drawn into gerrymandered districts designed to stop them from gaining reelection. They didn't run away from the fight. They ran toward the fight, and every single one prevailed. We also were able to collectively recruit an incredible group of candidates, as I talked about, people with real, authentic life experiences. And that combination of authenticity and the clarity by which they communicated-all of us lifting up the message of the need to aggressively address the affordability crisis and, at the same time, make sure we visit upon those who have unleashed unprecedented corruption on the American people accountability. That clarity of message carried by our candidates and articulated by all of us here in Washington, I think, was very important in setting up the contrast about where we are right now, this national nightmare, and where we need to go, making sure America is the best version of herself.

ERROL LOUIS: Prior to Election Day, when asked, you told reporters to keep an eye on the Sixth District in Kentucky. What was that race about, and what makes it representative of the kind of campaign that you just came out of?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, Zach Dembo's a great candidate. Andy Beshear, the current Governor of Kentucky, flagged that race for us early. It's a district that Donald Trump won comfortably all three times by north of 15 points. But the Governor said we could win. The incumbent was running for the Senate. It was an open seat. We had a strong recruit in Zach Dembo, and he was able to pull it off. Now, one of the reasons why I thought it was important to watch Kentucky-6 also is because polls closed in Kentucky at about 6 p.m. So, other than Guam, which is in a different time zone situation. And by the way, we flipped the seat in Guam as well. We found out about that race literally before noon on Election Day. But we knew that, of the races that everyone would be following, that Kentucky-6 was going to be one of the earliest ones. And along with our flip in Indiana-because the polls in Indiana also closed early, around 6-those were sort of the early races to track.

ERROL LOUIS: So you knew at that point it was going to be a wave election and a great night for Democrats?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Once I saw what was happening in Indiana and Kentucky, and before the races were called, but the returns that were coming in-I said, 'Okay, this is an early foundation for what is emerging into a big night for America and a big night for House Democrats.' And then when we saw that we were up in all four of the gerrymandered districts in Florida, because the polls also closed early in Florida in most of the state at 7 p.m., it reaffirmed that we were on a very positive trajectory because we knew that there was no path toward Republicans maintaining their narrow majority if they didn't flip the gerrymandered seats that were redrawn to stop Democrats from being successful. And we had three incumbents in Florida all drawn into incredibly tough districts that Donald Trump won by a significant amount nine, ten points or more-and they've all prevailed.

ERROL LOUIS: You personally pressured or recruited someone to try and run in one of those gerrymandered districts, right?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, Pia Dandiya emerged as a great candidate. We got behind her early, even before the primary, which in Florida is late, but we identified her as a great candidate. She's actually someone who has ties to New York City, started a school as a founding principal in the South Bronx and is raising her family now in South Florida. She went from the South Bronx to South Florida, and now she's on her way to Congress, so she's an extraordinary leader.
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ERROL LOUIS: There are these online petitions going around saying that not much more than Jeffries should not be Speaker, call your Member of Congress. They say that. Well, are you hearing from Members? Are they actually jamming the phone lines here? What are you hearing?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, there's no indication that Members of Congress have been overwhelmed by any calls. And I think that I'm going to continue to make the case in my conversations with every single member of the Caucus, interested in talking about both the track record that has gotten us here, but more importantly, what we hope to do for the American people in the new Congress and beyond, where we really are going to fight hard to deliver. The American people voted for dramatic change, bold change and transformational change. And we have a responsibility to do everything that we can to improve their high quality of life in all of the areas in ways that they haven't been experiencing. And it's unacceptable that you have so many people who are working hard, they're playing by the rules, they can't thrive and they can barely survive in New York and all across the country, and we've got to turn that around.

ERROL LOUIS: Well, but let's stick for a minute on the subject of your-the vote for the speakership, which I think is going to happen next week.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Next week.

ERROL LOUIS: Right. Do you have any challengers?

LEADER JEFFRIES: No.

ERROL LOUIS: Okay. And it's not that you haven't heard of-there just are none at this point.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, well, right at this point, someone could always emerge within the next week or so, but right now there are no declared challengers, no indication that anyone may put themselves forward.

ERROL LOUIS: So I mean, an online petition with a million signatures or digital signatures, whatever it may be, does that impact the process at all? What do you make of that?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, well, actually, I think Members of Congress, at all times, in any of the decisions that they make, are going to really be substantive about, whether it's the legislative agenda, or the elevation of people to any leadership positions, and think about everything and talk about everything and communicate about everything. And so, I look forward to talking to every single member of the House Democratic Caucus, whether they are a returning Member or incoming Members. And I've had the opportunity to talk to a whole bunch about a lot of different things, largely focused on making sure I get to know them, get to know their districts and get to know what they hope to accomplish on behalf of the people that they're privileged to serve because we want everybody to be successful.

ERROL LOUIS: What's the etiquette with that? Do they call you, do you call them?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I've sat down with a lot of Members to congratulate them, who made their way through the primary process, and then, of course, am working through sitting down and talking to folks who just flipped seats literally a week ago in such an overwhelming number. And now, many of them I spent time getting to know on the campaign trail and campaigned with them, but I haven't been able to meet everybody on the campaign trail because the numbers now have been so broad and overwhelming. But it's exciting. I'm looking forward to continuing to talk to them. Everyone is here to serve their communities. The depth and breadth of the victory, and the people who are being sent to Congress, is so extraordinary. We've got an awesome responsibility now to deliver.

ERROL LOUIS: So, help me calibrate this. No false modesty, I've known you for a long time. But my understanding of a wave election like this, and you said it ranks with the Watergate year in 1974. There's an argument in 1974 that Richard Nixon helped bring that wave about. It was revulsion at the Watergate scandal and the abuses of that administration. There's a similar argument now that Donald Trump brought this wave, or at least made it 10 feet higher than it would have been otherwise. There are ultra-progressives and socialists who are saying this was our victory, we brought the message of affordability, we put the boots on the ground, we helped make this happen. And so, as they say, success has a thousand fathers. You're clearly one of those fathers. But what happened here? Put this in some perspective.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I think, listen, it's everyone's victory. Most importantly, it's a victory for the American people. And never count the American people out when it comes to making sure that when the country is facing significant turbulence, we can turn things around, because everyday Americans are going to stand up and show up and speak up for what they believe to be right, to end this national nightmare that we've been in for the last few years and to demand that we have a country that's the best version of herself. As House Democrats, we knew that we were on the front line of the battle for the heart and soul of this country beginning in January of 2025, particularly when we saw all of the extremism that Donald Trump, through shock and awe, muzzle velocity, flood the zone, that strategy was designed to cause the American people to step back. But collectively, we didn't step back, we fought back. We battled the Republicans and the Trump administration on every issue-battled them on the One Big Ugly Bill, battled them on the Medicaid cuts, battled them on ICE funding, battled them on the tariffs, battled them on the Affordable Care Act tax credits and their refusal to extend healthcare to tens of millions of Americans, certainly battled them on Epstein transparency, battled them on their gerrymandering scheme and defeated them all across the country.

ERROL LOUIS: So when your critics say that Jeffries is too timid, I don't know if they think that the job of a Speaker is literally to speak, and that you should be judged based on your TV appearances or your social media feed. But what's your answer to people who say that this is not the man for the moment?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I think the track record speaks for itself in terms of what we've been able to do to get from where we are, where people declared the Democratic Party dead and House Democrats in the wilderness, to where we are today, the most significant majority that either party has had in the 21st Century. And so, we've come a long way, but we also recognize that we still have a long way to go. And at the end of the day, criticism comes with the territory, it comes with the job. That's just the reality of the situation.

ERROL LOUIS: Hey, you sit on the throne, right? This is what happens, right? People will throw rocks at it. Let me, we're almost out of time, but there are some progressives in the party who are, there seems to be a split within the party, let's say, around military aid to Israel. Will that get an early vote? What is your thinking about how you plan to steer that question?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah. Well, one of the things that I said in July is that we've got to reset the relationship in terms of how assistance is provided moving forward as we navigate the end of the Memorandum of Understanding that was originally entered into in 2016 when Barack Obama was President. And we're going to do that together as a Caucus and as a Congress. Clearly, dramatic change is necessary, and I've repeatedly made that point clear, including in July in a letter to the Caucus. We also foundationally have to make sure that we can continue to uplift two principles: a safe and secure Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, living side by side in peace and prosperity and safety and security with an independent Palestinian state that provides dignity and self-determination to the Palestinian people. And for far too long, I think policymakers have walked away from aggressively leaning in to bringing that two-state solution to life. I think it's a responsibility of all of us so that we can get to a just and lasting peace, that that's our North Star as we move forward in the new Congress.

ERROL LOUIS: There's a new Chief of Staff at the White House. I heard some pretty strong statements from you, but realistically, aren't you going to have to deal with Stephen Miller?

LEADER JEFFRIES: There's no circumstances where I'll deal with Stephen Miller based on his track record. He's the architect of the violent mass deportation machine that literally has allowed billions of taxpayer dollars to brutalize and kill American citizens-

ERROL LOUIS: But if you call the White House-

LEADER JEFFRIES: -and violently target law-abiding immigrant families.

ERROL LOUIS: If you call the White House and you'll have reason to, literally, if it's not him personally, his people are going to answer the phone.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we'll figure that out.

ERROL LOUIS: Have you talked to Donald Trump?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I have not talked to the President or the Vice President. Listen, in the past, either the Chief of Staff or the Vice President-this has happened whether you had Democrats or Republicans in the White House-have been a key point of interacting with the American people's representatives here in Congress. And so, I don't have much of a relationship with the Vice President either, but certainly to the extent that we need to deal with the administration, there will be options beyond Stephen Miller.

ERROL LOUIS: Okay, I will leave you to that. The Property Clause of the Constitution, which almost nobody knows about, because we haven't seen it invoked, but Congress has pretty sweeping, pretty final and clear authority over all public lands and buildings and properties. What will that mean for the various projects that President Trump has going on all around the city, where you can see the Reflecting Pool and the ballroom and these other things?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, it's a very important provision in the Constitution. And you're absolutely right, it's been overlooked by this current Republican-controlled Congress because you've got folks who have been behaving like a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme agenda, as opposed to actually Congress functioning like a separate and co-equal branch of government and a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch. And so, I think both from an appropriation standpoint, where Congress, of course, pursuant to the Constitution, has the power of the purse and as it relates to the property provision in the Constitution, where authority is clearly delineated to the Congress for the oversight and management of public property and public land, you can expect a very different and aggressive approach that House Democrats will take to make sure that our taxpayer dollars aren't being spent on vanity projects, but are being spent to make life more affordable for the American people.

ERROL LOUIS: Okay, we'll let you get to it.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Errol, thank you, man.

ERROL LOUIS: Thanks very much. Good to see you.

Full interview can be watched here.

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