Leader Jeffries Discusses Midterm Elections

0:00Ben Meiselas:The Republicans are in full-fledged panic mode as the midterms are right around the corner, folks. Finally, we are in the home stretch. Not surprisingly, Magamike Johnson shut down the House of Representatives as the second Epstein discharge petition got the requisite 218 signatures it needed as there was an impeachment resolution regarding Pete Hegseth. Magamike is like, we got to shut it down. I'm sure he also saw the cross-examination of Treasury Secretary Besant and whatever the hell that was regarding Kash Patel. It's important, folks. Oversight. It's a real thing. And when we got to see it one day, boy, was it illuminating.

0:45Ben Meiselas:And so you've got MAGA leadership freaking out across the country. They're seeing polling data everywhere from Texas to Kansas, to Ohio and Michigan, to Iowa and Florida, you name it, there is no safe MAGA district. You've got MAGA Republicans cutting ads against Donald Trump right now, like Congresswoman Salazar in what was believed to be a safe seat in Southern Florida. She was saying, Donald, your advisors led you astray on immigration when we all know Congresswoman Salazar aided and and embedded Donald Trump's cruel and unusual torture of her own constituents. So let's take a look at what's going down right here.

1:28Ben Meiselas:You've got MAGA Republican Senator Ted Cruz panicking on air. Let's play this clip. There is, there is a time for every season. We're in the season of the midterms. And so my focus politically right now is election day in November. We are at real risk of losing both the house and Senate. So I am devoting every waking hour to raising money, to campaigning, to fighting, to keep the Senate Republican, to keep the House Republican. If the Democrats take take the Congress, they will use it to fight with everything they can to stop President Trump's agenda. And so I'm doing everything I can to stop that.

2:05Ben Meiselas:Then you have Tom Emmer in leadership, MAGA Republican Congress member from Minnesota. And he's like, gas smash. Who cares? Well, we have a great record here. Play this clip. Spending is up 6 % from last year. I think people are going to do that emotional thing. Like somebody just sent me a meme that said$4 gas and$6 diesel. Not acceptable, but it's not going to get me to vote for a communist. This thing was in the town. That was good. Majority of work. Tom Emmer, what a pleasure. Come and see us again. More from Congress member Emmer Wright here. Let's play this clip. I think you've got a problem.

2:44Ben Meiselas:$4 gas,$6 diesel, 7 % mortgages. It's hard to argue that you're better than them when it comes to the economy. Well, we do have a lot to sell. I understand where Senator Kennedy's coming from on the Senate side. And you'll notice that Chad was just interviewing senators. If you talk to Republicans on the House side, Stuart, we have accomplished a ton. I mean, no taxes on overtime, no taxes on tip we raise the uh the child care tax credit the list goes on and on you can buy an american-made car and you can deduct your interest on that loan there are so many things to work on that the house actually has accomplished uh you've got to just go back to it because yes there are headwinds that are created by six dollar diesel four dollar gas groceries i mean these are headwinds that you got to deal with.

3:37Ben Meiselas:But the beauty of the U.S. House of Representatives, which people are missing, is we are not just a monolith. We are 435 pieces of geography. Each one has unique demographics to that geography. Now, I want to bring in the Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, an interview I just did with him. I want to ask him about the oversight that the American people are demanding right now, if and when Democrats take control of the House. Let's bring in that interview. I want to bring in Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, Leader Jeffries. Great to see you as always. So you have MAGA running scared again. MAGA Mike Johnson said they were going to stay in session for a lot longer.

4:19Ben Meiselas:I mean, I think they worked. I guess you all worked because of MAGA Mike, what, 15 legislative days in the past four months. And we got a taste of what oversight could actually look like. The one day everybody was back where we saw Besant being grilled. and on the Senate we saw a cash Patel being grilled and it was like ah finally people getting asked questions and so I think they said enough of that enough with the Hegseth impeachment resolution that was on the floor they want to keep covering up the Epstein file so first they're running away man they're running away scared and there's and it's just pathetic as I watch it it's just pathetic what do you make of it all yeah you know listen MAGA is running scared they can run but they can't hide because the clock is ticking 46 days until there's going to be accountability visited upon them by the american people from the fact that they have completely and totally failed their economic policies have been a disaster they're hurting the american people this reckless and costly war of choice in iran has been a disaster Iran is stronger and the American people are economically weaker as a result of what's going on in the Middle East, including as a result of gas prices skyrocketing through the roof.

5:39We know that Donald Trump's own handpicked head of the Federal Reserve Board concluded that Donald Trump's economy is failing so badly that he had to raise interest rates over the objection of Donald Trump. So you're absolutely right. I think Mike Johnson concluded we better get out of town before sundown because this is not going well for us.

6:08Ben Meiselas:You know, I think as the American people are looking to these midterms, what I hear over and over again is we need to restore checks and balances. Something that I hear is just ruthless or relentless accountability and oversight. I think people are skeptical that if and when Democrats take power, you can do a deal with Donald Trump. I think it was a Warren Buffett quote. You can't do a good deal with a bad person. And Trump has shown he breaks deals. He rips them apart quite frequently. So how do you how do you think about that? Because I think people are saying, I mean, we want all these things addressed.

6:47Ben Meiselas:But, you know, you can't. Trump's not a good faith actor. And, you know, we want we want oversight right now. How do you balance that? And how do you think about it? Yeah, it's a great question. And it's one that we're going to continue to navigate, both in terms of making clear, we have to fight for an affordable America. Like, the cost of living is way too high. It's out of control. People are drowning in this failed Trump economy. And we have a responsibility, and I hear this, Ben, everywhere I go across the country, to provide immediate relief, whenever and wherever possible. Because you got far too many people, they're working hard, they're playing by the rules, but they can't keep up.

7:32And so it shouldn't be stressful every time someone has to pay the rent. It is for millions of Americans. It shouldn't be stressful every time someone has to go to the grocery store to try to put food on the table for themselves and their families. But it is. it shouldn't be stressful people stress the f out every time they have to put gas in the tank but it is and so it is the case in fact it's a very real thing that people want the congress and their government to provide economic relief give them breathing room so they can live a good life a comfortable life and an affordable life so we're going to continue to make clear to the American people that we are fighting hard and will to lower the high cost of groceries, lower the high cost of gas, lower the high cost of housing, and fight to make health care affordable for every single American.

8:34But at the same time, we also have to deliver aggressive accountability. That is unrelenting. And we've made clear that if anyone out there is screwing over the American people, shortchanging the American people, or stealing from the American people. Beginning on day one, House Democrats are going to hold the crooks accountable and no one connected to the Trump cartel is going to get a pass.

9:11Ben Meiselas:So talk to us what that looks like. I mean, people should think about it. I mean, we know the House Oversight Committee and the great work that ranking member Garcia has done. We know about the Judiciary Committee and the great work that ranking member Raskin has done. But we have all these committees, you know, everything from agriculture. Just think about how farmers are being treated, right, to armed services, to foreign relations, to, you know, there's a lot of things that require critical oversight right now. Health. and we need to get to the bottom of this and perhaps explain, you know, right now when you have these hearings, Democrats are limited to like, it's like five minutes go and then the Trump people filibuster.

9:57Ben Meiselas:So when Democrats take control, what changes? Subpoena power, longer hearings, explain that to people as well. Because I think that that's, people are wondering sometimes now, well, could we be doing more? Why do the hearings last so short? and it's a control of house thing part of it, right? So talk to us about that. Yeah, it's a great point. So there's a big difference between being in the majority and being in the minority. In the minority, basically, we're put in a position of only being responsive to the subjects that the majority wants to discuss, largely the witnesses that appear at these hearings.

10:33Generally, if there are four witnesses, three are called by the majority, only one. is called by the party that is out of power. The length of the hearings is also determined by the majority. And what we are seeing often is that the administration, when they are compelled to come up to Capitol Hill, often say, well, their schedule only permits an hour or two, or at most just a few hours of testimony. And then they scurry off Capitol Hill as fast as they can. And while they are testifying under oath, they spend a lot of time filibustering as if they were in the Senate and just talking, talking, talking and trying to evade the type of accountability that comes from aggressive questioning, relentless questioning.

11:28Now, I will say that even in the minority, I think Democrats have done a really good job of pressing the case on behalf of the American people. For instance, we have run Pam Bondi out of town in the minority as she presided over a massive Epstein cover up. And we're going to continue to press our case on behalf of the Epstein survivors so that they get the accountability and transparency that they deserve and that the American people deserve. We ran Kristi Noem out of town in the minority because she was failing. And of course, of all of the corruption that was ongoing, while at the same time using taxpayer dollars to unleash mass and untrained ICE agents to brutalize and kill American citizens or violently target law abiding immigrant families.

12:26That's in the minority. In the majority, of course, we will be able to go on offense on behalf of the American people, decide the topics of these hearings, determine the overwhelming majority of witnesses, use subpoena power whenever and wherever necessary to make sure that the American people are actually hearing from folks who have been visiting harm upon them. and continuing that process until we are able to get to the bottom of the massive corruption that has been unleashed on the American people.

13:05Ben Meiselas:One of the things that we've seen also, though, is now MAGA Republicans cutting ads against Trump and trying to act like they didn't support him right now. And so you have Congresswoman Salazar who said that Trump supports the Dignity Act. He'll only go after immigrants who are violent criminals. And then she is now saying, Donald, you are getting bad advice from your advisors. And it was like bad advice from his advisors. And she told her people, I mean, in her district, which has a lot of Cuban, Venezuelan immigrant population, that they were going to be fine. And that not only that, there would be pathways to citizenship with their Dignity Act.

13:45Ben Meiselas:And, you know, her district has suffered. So now she's cutting ads in front of the White House. And she's all like, Donald, I'm looking at you. And it's just it's phony and it's it's dangerous because it's just scammy. It's like, look, this is what you did. I mean, and have take some accountability for your actions. It's fake, phony and it's false. And you're absolutely correct. Maria Elvira Salazar, like the rest of them, voted for the one big ugly bill that gave the Department of Homeland Security an additional$175 billion or so, including about$75 billion in money given over to ICE that was designed to fuel Donald Trump's violent mass deportation machine.

14:40And now she's acting like she had nothing to do with it. You had everything to do with it. You gave ICE the money to violently target law-abiding immigrant families in your community. Cubans and Venezuelans and Nicaraguans and others, Haitian Americans. And so they can run from their extremism. We're not going to let them hide from their track record of aiding and abetting the carnage that has been visited upon the American people. It's also interesting, Ben, that MAGA Inc., which is now investing in all of these races, you know, trying to hold on to the House and hold on to the Senate. But they're not doing it in their name, MAGA Inc., because if they were to do so on all of these ads, and they're spending tens of millions of dollars now trying to distort their record.

15:43MAGA Inc. is not front and center as a sponsor of these ads because they know the MAGA brand is a disaster. And Democrats now have an advantage on every single issue of meaning to the American people. We saw that in the Times-Siena poll survey, which is consistent with everything else that we're seeing. Democrats have an advantage with the American people, trusted more on the economy, trusted more on the cost of living, trusted even more on health care, trusted more on the war and this reckless war of choice that Donald Trump has gotten us into that only Democrats will be able to get us out of when we take back power.

16:31We're trusted more even on the deficit and on immigration. What was also interesting is that when the American people are now looking at Democrats as compared with Republicans, they view Republicans correctly as more extreme, more corrupt, and more elite. because we have connected with everyday Americans, and we know that continuing to do that is going to require us to lean in aggressively on our affordability agenda, but also lean in aggressively on our accountability agenda. That will be led by House Judiciary Committee Democrats and Jamie Raskin, and House Oversight Committee Democrats, led by Robert Garcia, who will continue to press the case on ending the Department of Justice's cover-up with respect to the Epstein files?

17:33Ben Meiselas:Leader Jeffries, we're going to be following everything that's going on. It's a sprint now to the midterms. It's finally here. Anything else you wanted to say before we go? Well, it's definitely a sprint. It's no longer a slog, no longer a marathon. MAGA extremists tried to break America. They have failed. Together, all of us haven't let that happen. But now we have an opportunity in November to begin to break MAGA extremism by voting every single one of them out of office and taking back control of the House and the Senate so we can begin the process of ending this national nightmare. Leader Jeffries, thank you for your time.

18:22Ben Meiselas:Appreciate it. And we will be watching, seeing these developments as we get closer to election day. And it's right around the corner. So thanks for your time. Thanks for everything. Everybody hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers.

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