Washington, DC – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe where he emphasized that Democrats will continue to demand a serious investigation into the Trump administration’s reckless and dangerous security breach.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Let’s bring in right now the House Minority Leader, Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York. He sent a letter out yesterday to President Trump calling for the Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, to be fired. This morning, Leader, the details are even more shocking as Jeffrey released and, this morning, a chain, a text chain that was sent to him while he was sitting at a Safeway parking lot. The Secretary of Defense, using a commercial app, telling people on this chain, all of whom he did not know that this mission was a go. That F-18s were about to launch at this time, that the target terrorist was in sight. He then described when the second F-18s were launching, again all over a commercial app. He said this is definitely when the first bombs will begin dropping. And on and on and on. Your response? Just this stunning turn of events this morning.

LEADER JEFFRIES: It’s a stunning breach of America’s national security. The lives of our servicemen and women were put into danger. And this is all being done by the person, the Secretary of Defense, who is charged with protecting the safety and national security of the American people. The problem is we could all see this coming, those who are paying close attention, as opposed to my Republican colleagues who are burying their heads in the sand. Pete Hegseth is the most unqualified person ever to lead the Department of Defense. Mitch McConnell knew it. Lisa Murkowski knew it. Susan Collins knew it. Democrats knew it, and we warned the Trump administration. And now the consequences are being felt. And this is a situation where the Trump administration is both arrogant and incompetent. That’s a toxic combination and American lives are at risk.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Chris Matthews, you have the next question.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Congressman, we all know that the Republicans echo whatever President Trump says. They wait for him to speak and then they echo it. Now, back in 1960—I actually remember this—President Eisenhower had to deny that our U-2 flights over Russia, which began in Pakistan and flew to Norway. We were clearly violating their airspace at a very high level. He initially lied about it and said that wasn’t a case of a spy mission. And later he changed his mind and said it was. Do you think Trump, President Trump, is capable of recognizing that his people—Hegseth and Waltz—screwed up, that they went on the Signal line, that they opened it up to Jeffrey Goldberg, who is not one of their friends? They did it all themselves. He had nothing to do with this. Why won’t he come out like Nixon did and said, wait a minute, Haldeman and Ehrlichman screwed up. I’m firing them. Do you think there’s any chance Trump will come clean?

LEADER JEFFRIES: The only chance is if the public pressure continues, is relentless and intensifies. During the Intel Committee hearing that’s going to take place today, you’re going to see House Democrats aggressively press the Trump administration and demand that there are consequences that occur. Ultimately, the buck stops with the President of the United States of America, which is why I made clear to President Trump yesterday in my correspondence that the Secretary of Defense should be fired immediately if he’s not man enough to own up to his mistakes and resign in disgrace.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Tina Brown is with us and has a question.

TINA BROWN: Mr. Leader, my question also—somewhat similar to Chris’, but at what point do the, you know, do the Republicans themselves break ranks? I mean, is this going to be the one thing that means that they do, as Senator Warner said, find their voice. Is there anybody? Is there anybody there now who is going to lead some kind of, you know, pushback to Congress having been turned into a party of ones? I mean, what is going to happen now in the Caucus?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah. You know, privately, several do express concerns and shake their head on the Floor of the House of Representatives. But publicly, there’s been a lack of courage and that’s unfortunate, because the Congress should be a check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch. And the Trump administration is completely and totally out of control. But here’s the problem with the modern-day Republican Party. Facts don’t matter. They’ll lie with ease. Facts don’t matter. Hypocrisy is not a constraint to their behavior. They’ll say one thing and do another. All of them had their hair on fire when we’ve had other national security incidents in the past, particularly when there was concerns related to Democratic administrations, and now they’re burying their heads in the sand, because hypocrisy is never a constraint to the behavior of the modern-day Republican Party. And they’ve actually concluded that shamelessness is a superpower, which is why you’ve seen such a shameless reaction, an attack on Jeffrey Goldberg, as opposed to owning up to the horrific facts of this case.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: So, Leader Jeffries, if I could just lay out the four layers that I see in terms of a breach of security here and then follow it up with a question. Number one, this was done on Signal. Totally wrong to be doing on Signal. Number two, this included top levels of this administration in many locations around the world, including Russia, instead of inside a SCIF. Number three, they included Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, and never noticed throughout the course of this entire chat. And then, four, there was an admission during a hearing yesterday that there are other similar chats like this out there. So with the administration saying that they are not concerned about this, nothing’s going to happen. Just a mistake, no big deal. Are our troops safe? Are we safe?

LEADER JEFFRIES: There’s every reason to be concerned that the safety and security of our American troops across the world, many of whom are in conflict zones in dangerous places like the Middle East, are at risk. And that’s the reason why we need a full investigation. It should be swift. It should be serious. And it should be substantive. We’re demanding that. We have this Intel Committee hearing that’s getting ready to take place. And that is just the beginning of what we will continue to push for. We need a full and complete investigation and inquiry. These phones should be turned in to the national security professionals to try to figure out what else has been compromised, and what other types of reckless chats are taking place. You know, I’m a member of the Gang of Eight. It’s a high honor to be part of that. We have these classified conversations. We’re not even permitted to bring our phones into any secure location, let alone have conversations on our phones.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: All right. House Minority Leader, Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Thank you.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Thank you so much for coming this morning.

Full interview can be watched here. 

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