House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is facing backlash from Republicans after vowing to “fight” President Donald Trump’s agenda “in the streets.” Jeffries made the comments during a press conference in Brooklyn on Friday, where he criticized the president’s federal funding freeze and handling of the recent aircraft collision in Washington, D.C.
Jeffries accused the Trump administration of trying to cut taxes for billionaires, donors, and wealthy corporations, and then burdening working-class Americans with the bill. “We are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We’re going to fight it in the streets,” he said.
Republicans were quick to condemn Jeffries’ comments, with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., calling for him to apologize. “House Minority Leader [Jeffries] should promptly apologize for his use of inflammatory and extreme rhetoric,” Emmer wrote. A senior White House official also demanded an apology, calling Jeffries’ comment “disgraceful.”
Jeffries’ spokesperson, however, defended the leader’s words, saying they referred to “nonviolent protest” and that Republicans were the ones who “pardon violent felons who assault police officers.” Democrats, on the other hand, were committed to the principle of peaceful protest, like civil rights leader John Lewis.
Jeffries also credited Democrats with stopping the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze, which was criticized as an “illegal, unlawful, and extreme” measure. The funding freeze was eventually blocked by a federal judge and rescinded by the White House.
