Brooklyn, NY – Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on State of the Union with Jake Tapper, where he emphasized that Democrats will continue to push back against the drastic cuts to Medicaid and other critical programs that Donald Trump and House Republicans are advancing.

JAKE TAPPER: Joining us now is the House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. Leader Jeffries, so good to see you. I don’t know if you could hear, but—or could see rather—but the instrumental portion of the bump in was an interpretive dance protest outside the Kennedy Center. I have to ask you President—I’m sorry, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro from your neighboring Commonwealth of Pennsylvania told The New York Times about congressional Democrats, quote, “They are failing to address the real concerns that people have. They are failing to do what is their fundamental responsibility constitutionally — to be a check.” That’s a pretty harsh assessment of Democrats’ first month in the second Trump administration. What’s your response?

LEADER JEFFRIES: I have no idea what the Governor was talking about, so you’re going to have to ask him for clarification. Here’s what I know. Here’s what the facts are: Donald Trump’s poll numbers aren’t going up. They are coming down, particularly as it relates to his management of the economy. That’s a direct result of the fact that House Democrats and Senate Democrats have made clear that we are working to drive down the high cost of living. We believe we have to make America more affordable. We believe that we should be relentlessly focused on improving the quality of life of everyday Americans. Donald Trump is a chaos agent who promised to lower costs, lower the high cost of living in the United States of America, and he’s doing the exact opposite because he’s not focused on it. He’s unleashing chaos on the American people. We are not losing in court. We are actually winning in court. The Trump administration is losing. We are partnering on at least 79 different lawsuits that have been brought related to about 35 different illegal or unconstitutional executive orders. And the Trump administration continues to lose in court, after court, after court. And that effort will, of course, be ongoing. The House Republicans—they’ve been on the run. They are feeling the pressure of the fact that their policies are deeply unpopular with the American people. And we’ve seen that play out this past week all across the country. And Democrats are going to continue to make clear that we will stand against the effort to end Medicaid as we know it, stand against the effort to detonate Social Security or Medicare, certainly stand against the effort to undermine veterans benefits or nutritional assistance to children and families.

JAKE TAPPER: So it—it’s certainly true that President Trump’s poll numbers are not in a great place, although they’re higher than they ever were in his first term. But congressional Republicans’ polling is about 40%, congressional Democrats’ polling is about 20%. So that’s an issue for you. And then you mentioned policies here—on Tuesday, House Republicans are set to hold a vote to overhaul the tax code. They’re going to cut spending on Medicaid and food assistance. Now, just in terms of the numbers, you and the Democrats only need three House Republicans to jump ship and join you and block any of those measures. If what President Trump and congressional Republicans are proposing is so extreme, have you been able to convince any of those three Republicans who are in Kamala Harris districts to join you?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, that process is certainly ongoing. And as we saw it play out all across the country, House Republicans are now being held accountable for the extreme positions connected to this reckless Republican budget. And understand, this budget is a betrayal of working-class Americans, of middle-class Americans, and of everyday Americans. They want to jam $4.5 trillion worth of tax cuts down the throats of the American people to benefit their billionaire donors and wealthy corporations, and at the same time, they want to stick everyday Americans with the bill by ending Medicaid as we know it, undermining veterans benefits and doing the type of things that Americans do not support. And so we only need three House Republicans. There are 215 Democrats in the House. We only need three to stand up on behalf of their constituents, and that is going to be an ongoing effort over the next few days to identify those individuals.

JAKE TAPPER: Well, it’s not tough to identify them. I mean, there’s Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania, Kamala Harris won his district. And Don Bacon in Omaha, Kamala Harris won his district. I mean—but I have not seen anything to suggest the Democrats have succeeded in winning over any of these Republicans.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Jake, you’re talking about three different individuals. We’re talking about 25 to 30 different individuals who are in the toughest districts all across the country. And as you’ve seen, for instance, Representative David Valadao from California make clear, he’s very uncomfortable with these Medicaid cuts. We’ve seen other Republicans speak about the challenges that they have. Representative Malliotakis, right here in New York City, has made clear she’s very uncomfortable with these Medicaid cuts that are being proposed because they are harmful. They will close hospitals in rural America and urban America. They will shut down nursing homes. They will hurt children, people with disabilities and seniors.

JAKE TAPPER: Speaking of shutdowns, the government is hurtling towards a possible federal government shutdown now less than three weeks ag—three weeks away. There are likely going to be enough Republican no votes—no they don’t want to keep the government open—to shut down the government, usually the far-right Freedom Caucus and the like always vote no on funding the government. So unless Democrats provide Speaker Johnson the votes to bail them out, the government will shut down. What is the strategy? Are House Democrats going to vote to keep the government open? Or are you just going to let the Republicans be in charge of all of it?

LEADER JEFFRIES: First of all, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it because, as we’ve been discussing, we have to stop this reckless Republican budget from going forward. And that’s going to be on the floor on Tuesday. Now, there are ongoing discussions being led by Rosa DeLauro, top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, to see if an enlightened agreement can be reached in advance of March 14 and we’ll see what takes place. What we do know is that the Republicans have the House, the Senate and the presidency. It is their responsibility to fund the government.

JAKE TAPPER: Mayor Adams, of your home State of New York—home City of New York is under intense scrutiny this week. There is this alleged quid pro quo with the Trump administration. The Trump administration has moved to drop the federal corruption charges against Adams, and this is supposedly done in exchange for cooperation from Mayor Adams when it comes to enforcing procedures against undocumented immigrants. This alleged quid pro quo has been so stark, so upsetting to so many people, eight federal prosecutors in the Trump administration and four city deputies in the Adams administration have resigned over this. I know you’ve expressed concern about what’s going on, but just a yes or no—do you have confidence in Mayor Adams to lead New York City?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Eric Adams has the responsibility to decisively convince the people of New York City that he’s solely focused on their interests and not doing the bidding of Donald Trump and his administration.

JAKE TAPPER: You are one of the two leaders of the Democratic Party. Is it not important for Democrats, while criticizing Donald Trump for various allegations of corruption, to be able to call it out in their own party?

LEADER JEFFRIES: As I indicated that Eric Adams has the responsibility to make it clear to the people of New York that he’s got their interests top of mind, and solely their interests. Now, with respect to the criminal justice side of this situation, there’s an ongoing federal court case. The judge has appropriately appointed someone to argue against the Department of Justice’s efforts to dismiss the charges. And we’ll see what happens in the context of that case. It would be premature for me to say anything about the charges that may or may not go away until then.

JAKE TAPPER: Before we go—Donald Trump made repeated comments this week about possibly serving a third term, calling himself a king in a social media post. Do you take that seriously, or do you think he’s just trolling people, trying to get them upset?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Donald Trump is intentionally unleashing extremism and outrageous things on the American people to try to disorient everyday Americans. Donald Trump is not a king. We will never bend the knee. Not now, not ever. And we’ll continue to point out that he’s focused on the wrong things. He’s not focused on improving the quality of life of everyday Americans, or driving down the high cost of living. Democrats are committed to making life better for every single American, in every single community, in every corner of this great country.

JAKE TAPPER: Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries from the great state of New York, thank you so much. Really, really appreciate it. Thanks for coming in.

Full interview can be watched here.