On Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffires (D-NY) made his routine shutdown propagandizing to disparage Republicans, this time with Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s The Situation Room. Blitzer teed up Jeffries to redirect partisan blame onto Republicans for violent rhetoric and hurting those directly impacted by the ongoing government shutdown.
The night prior on CNN’s The Source, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) joked, “We will not negotiate with legislative terrorists.” Perhaps it was a poor choice of words, but Blitzer pounced on the opportunity to coax Jeffries into condemning his political opponents:
BLITZER: You heard the Speaker suggest you guys, the Democrats, are acting like terrorists, holding the American people hostage right now in order to get what you want. You want to just quickly respond to that?
JEFFRIES: Well, that type of language is reckless, it's irresponsible, and it's gonna get someone killed. What do these folks not understand as it relates to the language that they continue to use?
It’s worth noting that January 6th rioter accused of planning to kill Jeffries was arrested several days before Johnson’s comment. Jeffries, understandably, might have been agitated by the experience, but that didn’t excuse his unwarranted and unfounded lash back.
Jeffries then claimed it was Republicans who had been responsible for spewing inciteful language and bringing harm to the public:
We should be able to battle it out in the contest of ideas, as opposed to trying to use these extreme terms that have been unleashed on the American people from the very beginning of this presidency, and matter of fact, for a long period of time, by the current President and those sycophants who continue to do nothing more than rubber stamp his extreme agenda and hurt the American people.
Contrary to Jeffries’ assertion, House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) said one week earlier in a Fox News interview, “And of course there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have.”
Blitzer inquired the Minority Leader, Clarks’ direct superior, about the rare deviation in party messaging:
BLITZER: Republicans say this is an admission that Democrats are using the American people as political leverage during this shutdown. Do you want to respond?
JEFFRIES: Donald Trump is the President, Republicans control the House and the Senate. They've made the decision to shut down the government, and they are the ones who consistently have taken adverse actions, made clear that they want to hurt the American people during this shutdown that they've created. And they refuse to reopen the government because of their unwillingness to provide affordable healthcare to everyday Americans.
Democrats have moved pass their talking point that blamed Republicans for originally removing the health care credits with the One Big Beautiful Bill. Now, Republicans were guilty for not repealing the measures they passed not even half a year ago.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN’s The Situation Room
October 23, 2025
11:19:06 a.m. EST
(…)
WOLF BLITZER: You heard the Speaker suggest you guys, the Democrats, are acting like terrorists, holding the American people hostage right now in order to get what you want. You want to just quickly respond to that?
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, that type of language is reckless, it's irresponsible, and it's gonna get someone killed. What do these folks not understand as it relates to the language that they continue to use? We should be able to battle it out in the contest of ideas, as opposed to trying to use these extreme terms that have been unleashed on the American people from the very beginning of this presidency, and matter of fact, for a long period of time, by the current President and those sycophants who continue to do nothing more than rubber stamp his extreme agenda and hurt the American people.
These are folks in the House, in terms of the Republicans, they've been on vacation for the last four weeks. They have actually canceled votes four consecutive weeks in a row. And as Democrats, we've been here, leader Schumer, Senate Democrats, House Democrats making clear we are ready, we are willing, we are able to sit down with anyone, any time, any place in order to reopen the government, enact a spending agreement that actually improves the quality of life of the American people, that lowers costs for the American people, because this country is too expensive and also does the things necessary to ensure that tens of millions of Americans are not gonna experience dramatically increased health care premiums that, for many, may increase by a thousand or 2,000 dollars per year. That is unsustainable. And the average income for folks — or, in fact, more than 90 percent of the people who receive Affordable Care Act tax credits make around 63,000 dollars per year.
We're fighting for working class Americans, for everyday Americans, and for middle class Americans while Republicans continue to do the bidding of their billionaire donors.
BLITZER: As you know, Leader Jeffries, the White House and the Republicans, they are seizing on this clip, and I'll play it from your fellow top House Democrat, Congresswoman Katherine Clark. Listen and watch this. This is what she said.
[Cuts to video]
REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA) [on 10/16/25]: I mean, shutdowns are terrible. And of course there will be, you know, families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have.
[Cuts back to live]
BLITZER: Republicans say this is an admission that Democrats are using the American people as political leverage during this shutdown. Do you want to respond?
JEFFRIES: Donald Trump is the President, Republicans control the House and the Senate. They've made the decision to shut down the government, and they are the ones who consistently have taken adverse actions, made clear that they want to hurt the American people during this
shutdown that they've created. And they refuse to reopen the government because of their unwillingness to provide affordable healthcare to everyday Americans.(…)
