House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries was pressed on whether he has “regret” over having helped rescue House Speaker Mike Johnson from a Republican rebellion last year, moments after he railed against Johnson for presiding over a GOP “Trump cartel.”
Appearing on Way Too Early with Ali Vitali on Thursday morning, the New York Democrat accused Johnson of stalling the House’s work while the nation faced key funding deadlines.
“It was irresponsible for Mike Johnson to keep House Republicans on a taxpayer-funded vacation for more than seven weeks and to castrate, you know, the House of Representatives as it relates to his majority,” Jeffries said. “At the end of the day, we’re a separate and coequal branch of government.”
He continued: “The problem with House Republicans is that they continue to function like a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Trump cartel, as opposed to what Democrats will do, which is serve as a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch.”
But Vitali pushed back, noting that Democrats had once voted to keep Johnson in power in May 2024 after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) failed attempt to oust him.
“I wonder if, given that you regret the way that the caucus acted when his job was in jeopardy?” she asked.
Jeffries paused before defending the decision: “No, I think that every moment calls for the best possible decision.”
He added: “At the time, Joe Biden was the president, Senate Democrats were in the majority. We had a responsibility to continue to move forward, particularly in that instance where we needed to fund our ally, Ukraine. That’s in a war defending not just their territorial integrity, but also principles of democracy and freedom and truth.”
Watch above via MSNBC.
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