House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., was confronted with a clip of himself from February 2024 during an interview on Sunday, in which he declared President Biden was the best candidate to run against President-elect Donald Trump.
The clip showed Jeffries saying that Biden was “definitely the strongest candidate” to run against Trump, when Biden was still the incumbent president. Jeffries responded to the clip by stating that he was supporting the incumbent president at the time, and that was the right thing to do.
When asked if he had a responsibility to be more forthcoming about his concerns about Biden’s abilities, Jeffries stated that he was focused on delivering for Americans after Trump’s victory, and did not want to look back on the past. He also mentioned that he had seen Biden working hard to deliver for the American people on issues such as infrastructure, prescription drugs, and domestic manufacturing jobs.
NBC’s Kristen Welker also confronted Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., with a clip of him insisting that concerns about Biden’s mental acuity were “right wing propaganda.” Schumer stated that Biden’s mental acuity is great and has not declined. When asked what he would tell Americans who think they were misled by top Democrats, Schumer defended Biden’s record, stating that he has had an amazing record and is a patriot.
When asked if Schumer was confident Biden could have served a second term, he refused to speculate and instead praised Biden’s record as a stellar one.