DPCC Co-Chair Jeffries: Democrats Are Focused On Our For the People

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WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08), Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee (DPCC), appeared on MSNBC to discuss the chaos, crisis, confusion and a growing culture of corruption surrounding the Trump Administration and Washington Republicans. Jeffries highlighted how Democrats are fighting for the people to lower health care costs, increase pay and clean up corruption. Jeffries also called on Senate Republicans to investigate the serious allegations against Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh before the confirmation process moves forward. Below are excerpts from the interview. Click here to watch the video.

"Well, this is another week in the life and times of a reality show host in the White House masquerading as President of the United States. And what it essentially has meant for the American people is nothing but chaos, crisis, confusion and a growing culture of corruption. And the guilty plea by the Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort is just consistent with the guilty plea from the Deputy Campaign Manager Rick Gates, the guilty plea from the former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, the guilty plea from Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen, the guilty plea from Papadopoulos - a former foreign policy adviser during the Trump campaign. At a certain point I think reasonable people are going to connect the dots that there was something very wrong that took place in the Trump campaign – possibly collusion and conspiracy with Russian spies to interfere with our democracy, sell it out and artificially place somebody at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Ultimately Bob Mueller will put that together in terms of the facts and the law and hopefully it will be made public to the American people.

"Well, House Democrats are going to continue to focus on our For the People agenda because the American people - folks at home in the Brooklyn communities and Queens communities that I represent and others all across the United States - do want to see us fight for lower health care costs, to strengthen the Affordable Care Act to dramatically reduce the price of life saving prescription drugs. We are going to fight to increase pay for everyday Americans through a real infrastructure plan to make sure that people have the opportunity to provide a comfortable living for their families. And they do wants us to clean up corruption in Washington so that their government works for them. Now Bob Mueller is a special prosecutor, we fought for his appointment by the Department of Justice. We fought for Jeff Sessions to recuse himself. We were successful in those two efforts. And so I think a lot of folks back at home and across the country want to see that legal process play itself out and then let the chips fall where they may.

"These are very troubling allegations and this is just consistent with a growing cloud of illegitimacy that surrounds this particular nomination. First of all, it is not even clear to me that when you have a President whose campaign and close associates are under intense criminal investigation that now is the appropriate time to be able to make an appointment that will affect the lives of the American people not just for months or years, but for decades in the context of the Kavanaugh nomination. These allegations also illustrate the problem with the rushed hearings. They are trying to jam this nomination down the throats of the American people in advance of the American people having an opportunity to weigh in in the context of the midterm elections. That is quite unfortunate and shows the rank hypocrisy of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell because he robbed Barack Obama of a legitimate Supreme Court nomination by refusing to even meet with Merrick Garland in 2016. We should press the pause button on this nomination. There should be no vote on Thursday. We should fully investigate these very troubling allegations. And then allow the American people to be presented with the facts because if that in fact turns out to be the case, obviously this is not an individual that should be headed toward the United States Supreme Court.

"Well, we continue to stand with the people of the Carolinas and other individuals throughout the south who have been impacted or may continue to be impacted by Hurricane Florence and we're thankful for the first responders and for those individuals who are doing all that they can to save lives and make sure that people see themselves out of harm's way. Now, that is a very different dynamic than what we've seen coming out of the White House from a President who is just concerned about himself. House Democrats, we're going to fight for the people. This is somebody in the White House who everything is about spin and misdirection and trying to create a narrative as was the case with what he talked about in terms of Hurricane Maria that he is the greatest person since sliced bread. The American people can see through the nonsense. That is why we're seeing continued disapproval ratings that are falling out of the sky. And I think at the end of the day, people will see through the subterfuge that Donald Trump continues to project out to the American people."