Jeffries rips Leavitt: ‘Sick,’ ‘out of control’

[Thiệu Ngô]

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Friday went off on White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt while talking about political violence and recent controversies in connection with the Republican Party.

By Ryan Mancini

“We’ve already seen a rise in political violence and hatred in America, and then you’ve got swastikas apparently appearing in the offices of Republican members of Congress,” Jeffries told reporters on Capitol Hill. “You’ve got Young Republicans engaging in the most antisemitic and racist speech possible.”

Jeffries said Republicans “are ripping the sheets off” before turning his attention to President Trump’s press secretary.

“And then you’ve got Karoline Leavitt, who’s sick; she’s out of control,” Jeffries continued. “I’m not sure whether she’s just demented, ignorant, a stone-cold liar or all of the above. But the notion that an official White House spokesperson would say that the Democratic Party consists of terrorists, violent criminals and undocumented immigrants, that makes no sense.”

Jeffries was reacting to comments Leavitt made during a Fox News appearance Thursday, when she claimed Democratic Party constituents are made up of “Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals.” This was in reaction to New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (D) not calling for Hamas to disarm.

“Democrats do NOT serve the interests of the American people,” Leavitt wrote in her response to Jeffries’s remarks on the social platform X. “Hakeem Jeffries is an America Last, stone-cold loser. Now open up the government and stop simping to try to get your radical left-wing base to like you.”

Before railing against Leavitt on Friday, Jeffries was lambasting two controversies from this week. One revealed that Young Republican National Federation leaders and members reportedly exchanged racist and xenophobic text messages on a group chat, according to Politico.

The other controversy was over an American flag with a swastika depicted in the middle seen in the office of Rep. Dave Taylor (R-Ohio). Taylor said the revelation of “a vile and deeply inappropriate symbol near an employee in my office” prompted an investigation.