LEADER JEFFRIES ON CNN: “ALL WE NEED ARE FOUR REPUBLICANS TO JOIN US”

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on CNN News Central, where he made clear that Democrats will continue to fight to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits and find bipartisan common ground where possible to make life better for everyday Americans.

JOHN BERMAN: Alright, with us now is the House Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries. Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. Those words from the President overnight aside, the reality of where Congress is right now is that the government was shut down for 43 days, and all Democrats really got out of it was this vote yesterday in the Senate that went nowhere. So was it worth it?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, Donald Trump and Republicans made the decision to shut down the government as part of their my-way-or-the-highway approach. As Democrats, we just made clear, we'll work together with our Republican colleagues, sit down, talk about the things that need to happen for the American people, anytime, anyplace. We repeatedly made that clear. But we also made clear we were not going to support a partisan spending bill that continued to gut the healthcare of the American people and failed to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits when tens of millions of Americans are now about to experience dramatically-increased health insurance premiums. That's totally unacceptable.

JOHN BERMAN: You talk about needing to sit down and talk, somewhat the need to compromise there. There are two measures now, two discharge petitions, bipartisan, that would extend Obamacare subsidies one by one year, we just heard from Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer on that. Another would extend them by two years, again which has bipartisan support. Why not throw Democratic leadership strength behind one of those two efforts?

LEADER JEFFRIES: As Democrats, when we reconvene early next week, we'll sit down, we'll have a conversation to look at the options that are in front of us. One option we know is that 214 Members of the House of Representatives support our petition to trigger an up-or-down vote on a clean extension to the Affordable Care Act tax credits. That means all we need are four Republicans, John. There are 220 of them. All we need are four to join us, and we can deal with this issue in the House of Representatives in a manner that will provide certainty to working class Americans, middle class Americans and everyday Americans who rely on the Affordable Care Act tax credits to go see a doctor when they need one.

JOHN BERMAN: You don't have those four Republican votes now. Both of the other discharge petitions have enough Republican votes that with all Democratic votes would be enough to pass. So why not support one of those two measures? Are you saying a three-year extension or bust?

LEADER JEFFRIES: What I'm saying is that we're open to having a conversation with my Republican colleagues about finding common ground and a path forward. We know that conversation is not going to take place with Speaker Johnson or House Republican leaders because they've been clear. All they want to do is rip away the Affordable Care Act tax credits and take away healthcare from the American people.This is the same group of folks who earlier this year enacted their One Big Ugly Bill, where they cut Medicaid by the largest amount in American history and in the process took healthcare away from 14 million Americans. And hospitals and nursing homes and community-based health clinics are closing all across the country. So as we've always said, we'll sit down, talk to our Republican colleagues anytime, anyplace, particularly those who have now expressed an interest in dealing with this healthcare issue and finally perhaps addressing the Republican healthcare crisis that's breaking the American people.

JOHN BERMAN: But you won't commit to supporting either one of those measures now, yes or no?

LEADER JEFFRIES: No, I haven't ruled anything in or I haven't ruled anything out because we have to have a conversation with ourselves as a House Democratic Caucus familyand of course Republicans if they're interested in good faith in trying to find common ground.

JOHN BERMAN: So there was a vote on a resolution yesterday in the House, pushed by some, a handful of Democrats, to impeach President Trump. You and Democratic leadership voted present on this. In June, on a separate push, you voted no. You voted to block it affirmatively. So why did you move from no on impeachment in June to sort of meh yesterday?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well we issued a statement that speaks for itself, but essentially we've said impeachment is a serious issue, it requires a serious process, and that process was missing as it relates to the resolution that we voted on yesterday.

JOHN BERMAN: Finally, the President pardoned Congressman Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas last week. He was charged in federal crimes, basically taking $600,000 in bribes. After that pardon, you sort of welcomed it and welcomed Congressman Cuellar back into the fold. There's an op-ed in the New York Times today written by a couple of former federal prosecutors who worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith, who took issue with your moves after the pardon. They said "Hakeem Jeffries welcomed the pardon and engaged in shameful pandering, apparently to maintain Mr. Cuellar's party loyalty. Most disturbingly, Mr. Jeffries did so by attacking the legitimacy of the criminal case against Mr. Cuellar, publicly dismissing the indictment against him as 'very thin.'" What do you say to this? Because Democrats have been very critical of a lot of the pardons that President Trump has made, but in this case, where it may benefit you, you seem to support it.

LEADER JEFFRIES: I didn't welcome the pardon. I basically made a factual observation based on how I saw the indictment that in my view it was thin. These prosecutors are free to go out there and defend whatever they want to defend, say whatever they want to say. They have a track record that they need to be able to articulate and justify to the American people. I'm unfamiliar with these particular individuals, so I can't really comment on what they may have said. But the reality is anyone, any American, whether you're a Congressperson, an everyday American, whether you serve in office, don't serve in office, you are entitled to the presumption of innocence.You are innocent until proven guilty. It's shocking to me that these people would take issue with that reality.

JOHN BERMAN: Well, they were charged. I mean, it's not an issue of being innocent till proven guilty here. He was charged. Congressman Cuellar was charged and it never went to trial because of the pardon. It's not an issue of innocence or guilt now, it's an issue of pardoning someone before there is that determination, correct?

LEADER JEFFRIES: No, it's an issue that if you if you are charged but you're not convicted, you are presumed innocent. That's what the whole presumption of innocence is all about.

JOHN BERMAN: All right, Leader Hakeem Jeffries, we appreciate your time this morning. You have a busy few weeks before the end of the year. Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.

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