Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MS NOW’s The Briefing with Jen Psaki where he highlighted how Democrats remain laser-focused on the issues of importance to the American people, like lowering costs, fixing our broken healthcare system and cleaning up corruption.

JEN PSAKI: As promised, joining me now is House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. I have so much to ask you about, including, of course, the races in New York last night. But before we get to that, you’re the Democratic Leader. It seemed like one of the craziest days on Capitol Hill in some time. And I just have to start by asking you about Trump’s abrupt refusal to sign this strikingly bipartisan housing legislation and his simultaneous demand that Republicans move forward with a voter suppression bill instead. What were you thinking as you watched that all happen this morning?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, listen, Donald Trump has once again made clear that Republicans would rather make it harder to vote than easier to live in an affordable way—in this particular instance, easier to purchase or rent a home that is affordable. And that’s consistent with basically what Donald Trump had been saying to the American people, that he believes the affordability crisis is a hoax, that he loves inflation and that he doesn’t care about the personal financial situation of the American people. And today was really powerful Exhibit A, that he would detonate a bipartisan housing bill. And I’m thankful for the leadership of Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Senator Elizabeth Warren. House Democrats stood squarely behind that leadership in the House, by once-and-future Chairwoman Maxine Waters, to get to a good place, take a meaningful step forward for the American people as part of our effort to continue to do all that we can to drive down the high cost of living. Donald Trump had a chance to try to tout a bipartisan success, and he blew it all up in ways that are extraordinary.

JEN PSAKI: I think he’s a little insecure about his own hold on power. That’s my calculation there. Let’s talk about the primaries in New York last night. I know you’ve spoken about it a little bit. Obviously, there were a diversity of candidates who won in different districts across the state of New York and other places in the country. But there were three races, and we got to talk about those, where you were on a different side than Mayor Mamdani. And he said in the last hour to my colleague Chris Hayes that what we saw last night was a rejection of status quo politics. What do you say to that?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I was involved in two of those races, supporting my colleagues, Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, and, of course, I’m deeply appreciative for their service to the country and the Congress. Certainly Dan Goldman and the role that he’s played in trying to hold Donald Trump accountable and Adriano Espaillat, who’s been a champion for immigrant communities, pushing back against ICE, fighting to bring resources back to the people of Harlem, Washington Heights and The Bronx. And I was proud to stand in support of them, and if I had to do it all over again, I’d do exactly the same thing. But we understand, in the House in particular, that primaries are a way of life. The House was intended by the framers to be the institution closest to the American people. We’re proud of that. To constantly try to reflect the hopes, the dreams, the aspirations, the fears, the concerns, the anxieties, the life experiences and the passions of the American people. And that’s why we stand for election every two years. And the reality of serving in the House is that every cycle, there’s often just a handful of incumbents who, for one reason or the other, fall short of reelection. And last night, of course, that happened twice.

JEN PSAKI: There’s been a lot of speculation out there about your relationship with the Mayor, and he was just asked about this on with Chris Hayes. I wanted to play that for you and talk about it with you as well.

RECORDING OF CHRIS HAYES: What are you looking for in your conversation with Leader Jeffries tonight?

RECORDING OF MAYOR MAMDANI: You know, I appreciate the relationship that I have with Leader Jeffries, and it’s one where we’re united in looking to deliver for the people of the city. And as you heard from him, we have disagreements about endorsements. And I think you mentioned a number of those candidates that I was proud to endorse in Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez and Brad Lander. And also, at the end of the day, what we’re looking to do is to deliver to the working people of New York City, and I think last night we heard from New Yorkers a hunger for exactly that kind of work being done here in our city.

JEN PSAKI: Chris said you two are going to speak tonight. I don’t expect you to tell me everything you plan to say or talk about. But broadly speaking, what’s the message going to be? What are you hoping to get out of that phone call?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I think as the Mayor indicated, the Congressional delegation, I won’t speak for them, but certainly we intend to continue to do all that’s necessary to work with our partners in state and city government, including the Mayor, to make life more affordable for the people that we’re privileged to represent and to improve their quality of life. At the end of the day, that’s why we’re all in office. And in a moment like this, we really have to move forward together on the governing side in an all-hands-on-deck fashion because we’re dealing with a level of extremism that Donald Trump and the Republicans are unleashing on the American people that is unprecedented. It’s one of the reasons why, of course, at the end of the day, our focus here in Washington is actually trying to defeat Republicans and to flip back control of the House of Representatives so we can end this national nightmare and continue to move our country toward a more perfect union. That’s not the place that we’re in right now. And so, I look forward to the conversation that will have. I think we’ve both been clear that we’ve agreed to disagree on some of these endorsements. There were two endorsements where we were on the opposite side. I, of course, standing with my colleagues in the New York Congressional Delegation, I’m proud of the fact that several other of my colleagues, of course, decisively won reelection, whether that’s Grace Meng or Ritchie Torres, Yvette Clarke, just to name a few. For whatever the reason, those races didn’t catch a lot of attention. I’m also thankful for the fact that we finally have some resolution. We had at least two strong candidates in New York’s 17th Congressional District currently being rented by Mike Lawler. But Cait Conley emerged. She’s a decorated, courageous, patriotic combat veteran. For whatever the reason, that race hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, even though Mike Lawler right now is shaking in his boots because Cait Conley is going to flip that seat in November and help us deliver a majority in the House of Representatives.

JEN PSAKI: She has a huge, huge shot in that race, and we’ll look forward to talking to her too. It wasn’t called by the time we had the show last night. Let me ask you about another issue because elections and the outcomes of them—it was a diverse array of candidates, as you just said, who won last night. You can reflect on where voters are, and maybe you can learn sometimes from where voters are. And one of the other things that Chris and Mayor Mamdani talked about was Israel and the issue of support for Israel. And this was a real issue in these three races where Mayor Mamdani endorsed candidates who did win. As you said, you were involved in two of those races. As you look to the outcome of those races, and you look to the people who are going to be coming and representing those districts, I mean, one of the things he said is that I think that Israel played a major role—he was asked about the Lander-Goldman race—”because New Yorkers have had to watch as tens of billions of our tax dollars have been spent on bombs that not only shred international law, but the lives of civilians.” How have you reflected on the message voters have sent on that particular issue coming out of last night?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, no, you know, that’s a very interesting question and New York City, like many other places, has a variety of different folks who have different views on a whole host of issues, both domestic, of course, which I think the affordability crisis continues to be the highest priority for the American people and our focus will continue to be drive down the high cost of living, make life more affordable, fix our broken healthcare system and, of course, clean up corruption wherever it may be found here in Washington, D.C., particularly as it relates to the Supreme Court and the Trump administration. Now, in terms of the issues related to Israel and the Middle East, I think at least I ca speak to my perspective, which is that I support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state. I support the aspirations of the Palestinian people to achieve the dignity, respect, autonomy and self-determination that they appropriately desire. And we need to find a just and lasting peace between Israelis and the Palestinian people, which for me means a real authentic commitment to a two-state solution. A safe and secure Israel living side-by-side with a prosperous Palestinian state designed to achieve dignity and self-determination for the Palestinian people. Now, in terms of the races in New York, what’s interesting is that it certainly was the case that in some of those districts, which tended to be higher-income districts in many parts of New York City, there was an outsized focus on issues connected to the Middle East. In other districts, for instance, in the South Bronx, Ritchie Torres was running against somebody who was heavily critical of Ritchie Torres’ position on Israel, and he won by 50 points. And so, listen, I think at the end of the day, individual congressional districts, the beauty of it all, are made up by a diverse group of people who have a diverse set of perspectives on a wide variety of issues. I think for us as House Democrats, we’re just hopeful that everybody recognizes once we get through this primary season that the enemy is Donald Trump and MAGA extremism, in terms of trying to bring about the type of America that we all desire, where when you work hard and play by the rules, working-class folks can live a comfortable life, an affordable life and a good life. That shouldn’t be too much to ask for in the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world.

Full interview can be watched here.

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