George Stephanopoulos Confronts Hakeem Jeffries About Calling Trump an Illegitimate President: ‘You Did Say’ That

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos confronted House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries over what many Republicans are calling election-denying rhetoric.

Ever since Democrats elected Jeffries to take over for Nancy Pelosi as their House leader, the New York representative has come under fire by those who recalled his claims that Donald Trump was an illegitimate president who stole and cheated his way to power. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) went after Jeffries for this by calling him out in a recent floor speech — noting Jeffries called Trump a “fake president.”

Stephanopoulos played tape of McConnell’s speech Sunday on This Week and asked Jeffries to respond to Republicans trying to equate his rhetoric with Trump’s denialism in the wake the of 2020 campaign.

“It’s unfortunate that Republicans have chosen to focus on me,” Jeffries answered. “House Democrats are going to focus on solving problems for the American people.

Yet the ABC host pressed, as Jeffries tried to duck the question.

“But you did say that ‘History will never accept [Trump] as a legitimate President,'” Stephanopoulos noted. “The Republicans are making quite a big issue out of that. What is your response?”

Jeffries attributed this to the “Republican playbook” that “facts don’t matter, hypocrisy is not a constraint to their behavior, and in many cases, they believe shamelessness is a superpower.”

My view of the situation has been pretty clear, I supported the certification of Donald Trump’s election. I attended his inauguration, even though there were many constituents and others across the country pushing me and others to do otherwise, and found ways to work with the Trump administration…That track record speaks for itself. At the same time, I will never hesitate in criticizing the former president. I think I’m in good company there throughout the world.

Watch above via ABC.