The Trump Administration is demanding an apology from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries after he declared his intent to “fight the Trump agenda in the streets.”
Jeffries made the statement on Friday during a press briefing in his home state New York, where he joined other officials in condemning recent efforts by the Trump administration to halt federal funding.
Jeffries accused Republicans of waging war on everyday Americans, who he claimed were “under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda,” which he argued is focused on slashing taxes for billionaires and major corporations while unfairly shifting the financial burden onto middle-class families.
“That’s not acceptable. We’re going to fight it legislatively, we are going to fight it in the courts, and we’re going to fight it in the streets,” Jeffries said defiantly.
The White House wasted no time firing back, describing Jeffries’ choice of words as a “sick call for violence.”
Officials released a statement questioning Jeffries’ intentions and asked, “Will Minority Leader Jeffries apologize for this disgusting threat? Or will he double down on the same calls for violence that have plagued the country for years?”
Christie Stephenson, Jeffries’ communications director, shot back at the White House’s claims in an official statement.
“The notion that Leader Jeffries supports violence is laughable,” she countered, highlighting a perceived hypocrisy.
According to her, “Republicans are the party that pardons violent felons who assault police officers. Democrats are the party of John Lewis and the right to petition the government peacefully.”
This fiery exchange unfolded as anger boiled over following a Democrat criticized directive from the Trump administration earlier in the week.
A memo attempting to temporarily suspend federal loans, grants, and assistance caused widespread confusion.
The freeze, while blocked by a federal judge earlier this week, left states and affected organizations scrambling for clarity.
Judge John McConnell, the U.S. District Judge who handled the injunction, struck down the freeze on Friday.
He referred to it as overly broad and ambiguous in its scope, ruling that immediate intervention was necessary to prevent potential harm.
“Are there some aspects of the pause that might be legal and appropriate constitutionally for the Executive to take?” McConnell wrote in his decision. “The Court imagines there are, but it is equally sure that there are many instances in the Executive Orders’ wide-ranging, all-encompassing, and ambiguous ‘pause’ of critical funding that are not.”
The temporary ruling, he added, was essential “as the Court must act in these early stages of the litigation under the ‘worst case scenario’ because the breadth and ambiguity of the Executive’s action makes it impossible to do otherwise.”
Back at his Friday press event, Jeffries referred to the funding freeze as an “unlawful Republican ripoff scheme to steal taxpayer dollars.”
He went on to applaud the efforts of state leaders, organizations, and citizens who “rose up in defiance” to challenge the temporary defunding notice in record time.
“We fought it, we stopped it, and we will never surrender,” Jeffries declared when asked about the Democratic commitment to countering controversial Republican decisions.
Initially issued by Trump’s budget office, the memo freezing federal aid was quietly rescinded less than two days later, presumably in response to the swift legal and political reactions.
During Friday’s event, reporters asked Jeffries which legislative battles he plans to prioritize as Minority Leader.
While reiterating the need for bipartisan collaboration, Jeffries underscored the party’s firm stance against “far-right extremism.”
He pointedly acknowledged tensions between ideological divides but stressed his overall mission to “make life better” for ordinary Americans.
Watch Jeffries’ full press conference here:
We are living in a country of total disarray. As a life long Republican I have to say this.
Is Trump a bull in a china shop?
It can’t continue as things are now.
as a life long rino, you should have said. how can you possibly condone the conditions Joe biden and bathhouse Barry gave this country? how can you. say it is wrong to tear down the democrats swamp where they spend money with no one to account for it? you are right on one thing, the democrat ways of the last 12 of 16 years they ruled have to be demolished. we need common sense, and morality back. no queers running this country. we want leaders who arent as crooked as a snake and who dont lie every time their mouths are open, like biden and that miserable press secretary who never told the truth one time. just join the Democratic Party it sounds like you belong there.
& then they Blame US for J6 right
this is the biggest joke of the century, that the democratic mouthpiece for Jeffries says republicans are the party of PARDONS? REALY? HOW MANY DID BIDEN ISSUE? OVER 4,000. AND HE IS A DEMOCRAP THE LAST TIME I CHECKED. SHE AND JEFFRIES ARE ON DOPE IF THEY BELIEVE ANY OF THAT. how can a funding freeze put money in anyones pocket hakeem? do you understand the meaning of freeze? it means NO MONEY IS MOVING ANYWHERE, how do these uneducated. people find their way to congress? and this man called for riots in the streets. he should be arrested and charged with inciting a riot. let him cool. his jets in jail. we should have raised all kinds of hell when biden stole office in 2020. next time, if ever again, the democrats see the whitehouse, we know what and how to act. we will live to make them the most miserable people on earth. with verbal attacks, and real calls for violence. if they thought j-6 was an insurrection, they aint seen nothing yet.
How do you spell Democrat, Buffoon.
If you are referring to “Democrap” you are wrong- it is an intentional mis-spelling to emphasize how bad they have been for America. He nailed it.
These Democrats make me laugh. Jeffries is inciting violence. Will they go after him for insurrection. Do they think people are stupid. Jeffries agenda is clearly disgusting . He wants division and chaos. Despicable man . He should be ousted from Congress.
A freeze and then checking all the expenses is appropriate. There is not a doubt in anyones mind that has a clue about an unsupervised budget that fraud exist. All is takes is no one minding the budget. The need of the idiots managing the unwatched dinero. Finally the open opportunity with no accountability or no supervision on the underlings, the ones with the NEED! There will be loads of people sweating bullets.
So to anyone like Trump or me as a retired CPA the checkers are gonna find a lot of graft and corruption! Sic em Trump! And get answers from people like this moron Jefferies. Oh, and do not forget old Nance, she ruled the show and all that money! Accountability is what should be next after the holes in the budget are identified!
I worked for a company whose owner trusted the sweet old lady that had managed his accounts payable and her sister who had been his office manager for twenty years so much he never even had an audit conducted…until I recommended it.
Turned out those sweet old ladies had been ripping off hundreds of thousands of dollars from him for years.
Musk has proven he has the capability of creating and running efficient, labor and cost-effective companies. His staff is made up of equally intelligent and successful business owners.
When the company our government officials paid billions failed to build a rocket capable of bringing two of our astronauts home, no government officials or citizens protested when Musk volunteered to schedule a trip to the space station to bring them home in his rocket.
When Hurricane Helene left thousands of people living in tents with no cell or internet service FEMA required to apply for help, no government officials or citizens protested when Trump asked Musk to provide them his internet service.
Until we get to a point where our government and the employees whose salaries and benefits are PAID WITH OUR TAX DOLLARS are subjected to authentic audits, and responsibilities to account for every penny spent and what it was spent on, the only thing we can count on is billions our hard-earned dollars are going to be wasted, stolen, or used for ridiculous things like spending 50 million on condoms for Gaza.
Be patient, let the audit be conducted, after you get the results you can make an informed decision instead of jumping to conclusions. When a gang of obviously terrified Democrats try to storm the Department of Education in order to prevent Musk from completing the audit, you can bet they’re hiding something..