On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) responded to questions on whether he saw if former President Joe Biden had declined and why voters should trust Democrats by stating that “we’re not looking back. We’re going to continue to look forward,” and voters do trust Democrats.
Co-host Wolf Blitzer asked, “I want to quickly get your thoughts on this new book that’s about to come out from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson detailing President Biden’s decline during his time in the White House. According to one rather stunning passage from the book, President Biden didn’t even recognize George Clooney at a fundraiser that the movie star was actually hosting for him. Why should voters trust Democrats when it’s clear so many in your party went to great lengths to keep Biden’s condition hidden from the public?”
Jeffries responded, “Well, I can’t tell you what happened between George Clooney and President Biden. I wasn’t at that event. What I can say is that we’re not looking back. We’re going to continue to look forward, because, at this moment, we’ve got real problems that need to be addressed on behalf of the American people, including the Republican effort to snatch away health care, snatch away food assistance, and hurt veterans.”
Blitzer then asked, “You interacted with President Biden during those days, those final days he was President of the United States. Did you see, did you sense there was a major deterioration?”
Jeffries responded, “Well, in the conversations that I was able to have on behalf of the House Democratic Caucus in those final days, we simply expressed our perspective as to what would be best for the party at that given moment in time. President Biden subsequently made the decision that he was going to pass the baton to Vice President Kamala Harris. Of course, that was the decision that we supported strongly.”
Co-host Pamela Brown then asked, “Just very quickly, I want to ask you, Rep. Jeffries, you say we’re not looking back, we’re looking forward. But what happened in the past has to do with what’s going to happen in the future and whether voters can trust Democrats. As you look back, you were in a leadership position when President Biden decided to run again, should you have done more at that point to intervene?”
Jeffries answered, “It’s a great question in terms of whether voters can trust Democrats or not. Every single high-profile special election that has taken place since President Trump was inaugurated, a special election victory in Iowa in January, a special election victory in New York in February, a special election victory in Pennsylvania in March, a special election victory in Wisconsin in the Supreme Court race in April, and, yesterday, decisively defeating a Republican incumbent in Omaha in a surprise to many observers, clearly, voters are trusting Democrats, this year, when they go to the ballot, repeatedly rejecting MAGA extremism.”
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