Hakeem Jeffries Does Damage Control After Backlash Over Jared Kushner Meeting, Insists ‘Trump Cartel’ Won’t Get a Pass

(Photo by Samuel Corum/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images)

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded to fierce backlash he received after a meeting he had with President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, posting a video on social media insisting the purpose was to discuss the “affordability crisis” because Americans were “stressed the ‘F’ out” and Democrats had a “responsibility to address it.”

According to a report by The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni, Jeffries and Kushner had a private meeting in New York. The clandestine confab was arranged by a “mutual friend,” and they “discussed housing, immigration and the high cost of living as potential areas of common ground,” in light of Trump’s inner circle being “well aware of the likelihood of a Democratic-led House, and trying to foster as much of a working relationship as possible before any change,” the Times reported.

Democrats, progressive activists, and other Trump critics reacted with fury to the news, blasting Jeffries for the meeting.

Jeffries, who is poised to become Speaker if his party wins back the majority in November, responded Monday evening.

“No one from the Trump Cartel is getting a pass,” he wrote in the caption.

In the video, Jeffries said he was finishing a community event and wanted to “give y’all a little real talk on this Jared Kushner situation.”

“He asked for a meeting, and I took it,” he said, “to discuss the affordability crisis that exists — that is not a hoax.”

“At the same period of time — and I shouldn’t have to say it, but I am — no one is going to get a pass. We are gonna hold every single member of the Trump cartel accountable, beginning on day one. If you’re stealing from the American people, shortchanging the American people, or screwing over the American people, you’re going to be held accountable.”

“We’re gonna follow the facts, apply the law, and be guided by the Constitution, beginning on day one, and hold the crooks accountable,” he continued.

This is what House Democrats had been doing, Jeffries argued, describing how they had “battled” the Trump administration on topics including tariffs, Medicaid, the Epstein files, SNAP food assistance, the Affordable Care Act, the “reckless war of choice in Iran,” ICE funding, and the “unprecedented corruption unleashed on the American people.”

“And we’ve delivered results,” he said. “Pam Bondi is gone. Kristi Noem is gone. And we’re just getting started.”

“The affordability crisis in this country is very real. It needs to be dealt with. I hear about it every day,” he concluded. “People are drowning in this failed economy and are demanding action. We have a responsibility to deal with the fact that life is too expensive. Far too many people are stressed the ‘F’ out when it is time to go to the grocery store, pay the rent, or put gas in the tank. That’s crazy. That should not be happening in the United States of America, and we have a responsibility to address it, and that’s what we intend to do.”

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!