BREAKING: Hakeem Jeffries Praises 'Heroic' Biden, Refuses To Endorse Harris Until He Meets With Her

3 months ago

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) held a press briefing on Monday where he spoke about President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

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00:00President Biden is a heroic, patriotic, transformational leader who will go down in American history

00:19as one of the greatest public servants of all time.

00:25When President Biden and Vice President Harris first took office on January 20th of 2021,

00:36the Biden-Harris team assumed a public health crisis, an economic crisis, and a democracy

00:44crisis in the immediate aftermath of January 6th at the same time.

00:51And thanks to the leadership of President Joe Biden and his partnership with Vice President

00:58Kamala Harris, they were able to rescue the country from a once-in-a-century pandemic

01:07and turn the situation around so we could return to normalcy.

01:11Thanks to the leadership of President Biden and his partnership with Vice President Harris,

01:18they were able to save the economy from a once-in-a-decade-or-so recession-like situation

01:30and set us on a positive path so that everyday Americans could thrive in every single zip

01:37code across America.

01:39Thanks to the leadership of President Biden and his partnership with Vice President Harris,

01:45dignity and decency and a democratic way of life was restored to the Oval Office and

01:561600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

01:58We owe a debt of gratitude to President Biden for his tremendous leadership, and I'm also

02:04thankful for the incredible partnership that he has had for the last three and a half years

02:11with Vice President Kamala Harris.

02:13Leader Jeffries, Leader Jeffries, Leader Jeffries.

02:15Leader Jeffries.

02:17Leader Jeffries.

02:19First, will you endorse Kamala Harris?

02:21And then I have one other question for you.

02:23Well, Leader Hsu and I are scheduled to meet with Vice President Harris shortly.

02:29The House came back into session today.

02:32The Senate does not come back into session tomorrow.

02:34I'm excited for that meeting.

02:38And let me say this, that Vice President Kamala Harris has excited the community.

02:45She's excited the House Democratic Caucus.

02:49And she's exciting the country.

02:52And so I'm looking forward to sitting down with her in person in short order with Leader

02:57Schumer, and we'll have more to say about the path forward as soon as that meeting can

03:02Leader Jeffries, Leader Jeffries, Leader Jeffries.

03:06Quick question.

03:08What does President Biden need to do these final few months to ease the path to help

03:13to, you know, while he's in office, to ease the path to make it easier for Democrats to

03:17flip the House and to keep the White House?

03:18Well, President Biden is going to continue to do his job.

03:23And he's put the country first.

03:25He's put the American people first.

03:28He's put hardworking American taxpayers first, which is what President Biden has always done.

03:35And as a result of his leadership, we've seen transformational change, fixing our crumbling

03:41bridges, roads, tunnels, airports, our sewer and water systems, rescuing the economy from

03:46the once-in-a-century pandemic, gun safety legislation for the first time in 30 years,

03:51standing up for our veterans, bringing domestic manufacturing jobs back home to the country,

03:56and passing the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the largest investment in combating

04:01the climate crisis in the history of the world.

04:02We still have more work to do.

04:04We still have to lower costs.

04:06We still have to end price gouging.

04:08We have to continue to grow the middle class, defend democracy, and fight for reproductive

04:12freedom.

04:14President Biden will continue to do that job, along with Vice President Harris and Democrats

04:19in the House and the Senate.

04:20What, you know, this has been a few weeks of very intense discussions about Biden being

04:27at the top of the ticket.

04:28What light can you shed to the American public about the concerns that you conveyed to the

04:33president about staying on the top of the ticket?

04:36It's a private conversation with President Joe Biden that will remain private.

04:40Mr. Leader, I mean, there has been a lot of reporting about what was said and wasn't.

04:45So just for the record, can you just be clear, did you ever tell the president that he could

04:50hurt Democrats' chances at taking back the majority if he stayed in the race?

04:53And secondly, secondly, what do you say to those, whether it's Ron Klain or congressional

04:59Republicans, who claim that Democratic Party leaders or elected officials pushed the president

05:04out?

05:05President Joe Biden is a heroic, patriotic, and transformational figure.

05:12And he will go down in history as one of the greatest public servants of all time.

05:15That much is clear.

05:18I had a private conversation with President Biden to express the perspectives that were

05:23wide-ranging of the House Democratic Caucus.

05:27That conversation will remain private.

05:29In terms of my Republican colleagues, former President Donald Trump and extreme-mega-Republicans

05:35are having a meltdown right now, a complete and total meltdown.

05:40Why?

05:41Because their presidential nominee is unpopular.

05:45Extreme-mega-Republican policies are unpopular, including trying to impose a nationwide abortion

05:52ban on the American people.

05:54And their Project 2025 is unpopular.

05:57They're having a meltdown right now.

05:59All we want to do as Democrats is have a debate about moving the country forward and continuing

06:06to put people over politics.

06:09Mr. President, can you speak for just a moment to what the concerns you were hearing from

06:14members in swing districts who were concerned about the president possibly dragging down

06:19ballot and how this potentially changes that equation by changing the top of the table?

06:23That's what we're looking forward to.

06:25We are going to do everything we need to do as House Democrats to win back control of

06:30the House of Representatives and vacate the extreme-mega-Republican majority on November

06:365th.

06:37Mr. President, when is that meeting today, tomorrow?

06:41We're waiting on Leader Schumer to get back into town, as well as to get exact confirmation

06:47from Vice President Harris.

06:48Mr. President?

06:49Thanks.

06:51You just said that she's exciting the community, that coming to the White House is exciting

06:52the House Democratic Caucus.

06:53Can you speak to what particularly excites the caucus about her versus the president?

06:59Well, we're looking at a frame of change versus the status quo.

07:04Moving the country forward versus Donald Trump and the extreme-mega-Republicans who

07:08want to turn back the clock.

07:11Defending freedom, like a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive health care decisions

07:15versus the nationwide abortion ban that Donald Trump and the extreme-mega-Republicans want

07:20to jam down the throats of the American people.

07:23We're looking at building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up that works

07:28for everyday Americans versus the extreme-mega-Republican plans and Donald Trump's plans to drive the

07:34economy forward.

07:35We're looking at a big tax cut down the throats of the American people that benefit the wealthy,

07:39the well-off, and the well-connected.

07:40Last question.

07:41Last question.

07:42Last question.

07:43Last question.

07:44I'm looking forward and excited for the meeting that we will have in short order with Vice

07:49President Kamala Harris.

07:50Thank you, everyone.

07:52Peter Deverick, on a personal level?

BREAKING: Hakeem Jeffries Praises 'Heroic' Biden, Refuses To Endorse Harris Until He Meets With Her

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