LEADER JEFFRIES: “EXTREME MAGA REPUBLICANS ARE DETERMINED TO SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN UNLESS THEY JAM TRUMP’S PROJECT 2025 DOWN THE THROATS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe where he emphasized that while extreme MAGA Republicans are threatening a government shutdown unless they can impose their right-wing ideology on everyday Americans, Democrats will continue to stand firm for hardworking American taxpayers.

Mika Brzezinski: Let's bring in now, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, it's great to have you on the show this morning. So tell us your thoughts about last night's debate. How did candidate Kamala Harris do?

Leader Jeffries: Well, good morning, great to be with you. Kamala Harris demonstrated in a clear and convincing fashion for the American people that she is ready, willing and able to be a commander in chief for all Americans to make life better for everyday Americans and to bring us into the future.

Katty Kay: Leader Jeffries, let me ask you what I asked David Plouffe earlier, how she had a good debate. There's widespread recognition that she did better than Donald Trump. But how does it change the nature of the race?

Leader Jeffries: Well, it was a masterclass in being serious and substantive. It was a master class in style and strength at the same time. And that's incredibly important because for some Americans, not all Americans, this was a significant further introduction to them in the context of this presidential campaign. I think equally significant is that Vice President Harris continued to lay out a forward-looking agenda to build an opportunity economy, to lower costs, to grow the middle class, to stand up for small businesses and stand up for entrepreneurs and stand up for first time homebuyers in ways that will meet the needs of the American people. Donald Trump was stumbling, fumbling and bumbling throughout the entire debate during his best moments and had no forward-looking vision for the American people. It was all backward-looking. And I think the American people are ready to turn the page.

Jonathan Lemire: Leader Jeffries, there was a few moments last night where Donald Trump was pressed and noticeably would not give an answer, one, whether he would sign a national abortion ban. Secondly, whether he wanted Ukraine to win the war. And third, he refuses to concede that he lost the 2020 election. And that, twinned with his rhetoric over the weekend, talking about the need to imprison those who have worked against him, in his mind cheated. What is your degree of concern that were he to lose this election, he would inspire the kind of violence, maybe even more so, that we saw four years ago?

Leader Jeffries: Well, that's a legitimate concern. Donald Trump is a pro-Putin conspiracy-peddling, election-denying extremist who wants to criminalize abortion care and impose a nationwide abortion ban as a result of the work building upon the Supreme Court justices that he put on the Supreme Court to detonate Roe v Wade and undermine a woman's freedom to make her own reproductive health care decisions. And so there are serious concerns that the American people have as it relates to our freedom, as it relates to an economy that works for everyday Americans and of course, as it relates to democracy and the peaceful transfer of power. Because this is who Donald Trump is. He's not a patriotic American. He's all about himself. And we saw that on full display last evening. Kamala Harris is about the American people.

Joe Scarborough: Leader Jeffries, we saw earlier this year Donald Trump killing the strongest border security bill in U.S. history, even though it was drafted in the United States Senate by one of its most conservative members, Oklahoma's James Lankford. Yesterday morning, we heard Speaker Mike Johnson saying that he didn't want to shut down the federal government. He wanted to work with everybody and get a funding bill passed. Donald Trump comes out later in the day telling House Members, Republican House Members, not to support the bill unless we have some, you know, bizarre measures jammed in there. What - what's your thought on that? Do you think the government will end up being funded?

Leader Jeffries: As House Democrats, we're going to work as hard as we can to make sure that we fund the government in a manner that meets the needs of the American people in terms of their health, their safety, their national security and their economic well-being. At the same time, extreme MAGA Republicans, led by Donald Trump, are determined to shut the government down unless they jam Trump's Project 2025 down the throats of the American people. That's what this spending fight is all about. We reached a bipartisan agreement connected with the Fiscal Responsibility Act that was signed into law and had support by the majority of Republicans last spring that set spending numbers for this fiscal year and for the next fiscal year. Republicans have chosen to break their agreement.

Joe Scarborough: Right, Right, but Leader Jeffries. It's not-it's not even about that. I mean, with Donald Trump, just like last night, where, again, he continued the lie that hospitals kill, doctors kill babies who were born after nine months. There's now the big lie that's being spread that Republicans want to stop illegal immigrants from voting and they have to pass a bill to stop illegal immigrants from voting. It's already illegal for illegal immigrants to vote. So what is the purpose of this entire exercise?

Leader Jeffries: Well, that's correct. Donald Trump lies for a living and they're lying about that. The Constitution does not permit non-citizens to vote in federal elections. That's clear. But what the bill being put forward by the extreme MAGA Republicans also does is it shortchanges the Department of Defense and our military readiness by $6 billion. It cuts $12 billion from veterans health care. And it also cuts funding to the administration of Social Security. And so what this is really about, in addition to their xenophobic lies that they continue to peddle, is that they want to extract extreme cuts that will hurt veterans, hurt the military, hurt seniors and hurt the American people. And that's always been their agenda.

Joe Scarborough: All right. House Minority Leader Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York, thank you so much for being with us.

Mika Brzezinski: Thank you, sir.

Leader Jeffries: Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.