LEADER JEFFRIES ON FOX: “VIOLENCE IS NEVER THE ANSWER, WHETHER IT’S TARGETED AT THE RIGHT, THE LEFT OR THE CENTER”

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on Fox News Sunday, where he made clear that political violence is never acceptable, and that Democrats and Republicans must come together in a bipartisan way to lower the high cost of living and fix our broken immigration system.

SHANNON BREAM: Joining me now, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Good to have you back on Fox News Sunday this morning, sir.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Good morning.

SHANNON BREAM: Ok, so you said last night, in the wake of this, you said, 'it's time to end the political violence.' How do we do that, sir?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, first of all, I'm thankful for the bravery and the heroism of the Secret Service and the men and women of law enforcement. I'm grateful that everyone, from the President and First Lady on down are safe, who attended the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and certainly thankful that this brave Secret Service agent, who was shot, has been released from the hospital and is on his way to a full and complete recovery. Listen, I think that here in America, we can have strong disagreements, but it's important for us to agree to strongly disagree without being disagreeable with each other. And it is certainly the case that violence is never the answer, whether it's targeted at the right, the left or the center. We have issues that we have to work out amongst each other, that's embedded in the First Amendment that was being celebrated last night. But what is also embedded in the First Amendment is the right to peacefully protest and to petition the government peacefully.

SHANNON BREAM: Yeah, and we had protesters last night outside the dinners as we do every year. And you're right, I mean, especially here in D.C., we see a regular protest. We celebrate the First Amendment, and that was what so much of last night was about. But there are those out there, and our polling continues to show, especially younger voters and younger people think that political violence is justified against your opponents. How do we speak into that? How do change those minds? That's the next generation who increasingly says it's fine to use that against your opponents.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I think it's going to be important for all of us, whether that's the President, the Cabinet, Members of Congress, people in the Senate, Governors, state and local elected officials all across the country, to do the best that we can to set the most appropriate example. Again, to disagree with each other strongly when necessary, to battle it out in the public sphere of ideas, but to make sure that we respect the opposition in terms of those disagreements that are anchored in principle and also to make clear that everybody, whatever your ideological perspective is, we all love America and we all want to make sure that this country is the best that it can possibly be, particularly as we approach the 250th birthday on July 4th and work hard together to make the next 250 years even better than the first.

SHANNON BREAM: Yeah, we do have some work to do. And you have work to do on the Hill as there's still a continuing battle over a number of big issues. But continuing with DHS funding, we understand that, in a matter of days probably, the paychecks will run out for Secret Service agents like the one who was injured last night. Thankfully, that protective vest did its job. But you might have heard the Attorney General, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche earlier say, it's time to stop using these kinds of employees, DHS employees, as pawns. So what do you make of his characterization of that issue as we still ask these people to show up for work, but they may soon be doing it, life or death situations, without a paycheck?

LEADER JEFFRIES:Well, we have to make sure that every single Secret Service agent continues to get paid, every single TSA agent, the Coast Guard and FEMA, as well as the hardworking men and women of the Department of Homeland Security. Actually, there's been a bipartisan bill sent over by the Senate, not once, but twice, that has been pending before the House of Representatives now for weeks. Every single Senate Republican, every single Senate Democrat, the President himself as well as House Democrats have all expressed support for that bipartisan bill that will fund the Department of Homeland Security, including the Secret Service, with the exception of ICE and the mass deportation machine because that issue needs to be worked out separately. And for the life of me I'm not sure why that bill hasn't been brought to the Floor of the House of Representatives. When we return tomorrow, it should be taken up immediately and it will pass on a strongly bipartisan basis, so we can make sure that the Secret Service gets paid.

SHANNON BREAM: Well, I've talked to some folks in GOP House leadership who think that there will be more motivation, they're hoping at least on a bipartisan basis, to do full funding. It doesn't sound like that's an idea that you're open to right now, but we'll track that this week as you all get back here and get back to work. I want to talk about this. As that is playing out, your counterpart over on the Senate side, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate Floor this week, he said that nobody respects ICE or the Border Patrol. And the President actually asked for an apology to that. He says, 'It's one of the most egregious, incorrect, unpatriotic and dangerous statements I have ever heard from a professional politician. He must immediately apologize to these great patriots. And I mean now.' Do you think there is an apology owed to Border Patrol and ICE?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I didn't track that statement on the [Senate] Floor. I know Chuck Schumer is an incredibly patriotic individual. He cares about this country. All of us, with respect to whatever disagreements that we may be having relative to spending billions of dollars to fund ICE, which in some instances has been used to brutalize or kill American citizens like Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. Certainly, I have a problem with that aspect of what has happened. But taking a step back, we want strong border security, we want to make sure that immigration enforcement in this country is fair, just and humane and is actually targeting for deportation violent felons who are here illegally as opposed to law-abiding immigrant families or, God forbid, American citizens as we've seen in many different instances. But perhaps most importantly, we have a broken immigration system, and we actually should fix it, and fix it in a comprehensive and in a bipartisan way, while we also deal with some of the other challenges that the American people face, such as the high cost of living. Let's come together as Democrats and Republicans to actually make life more affordable for the American people.

SHANNON BREAM: Well, one of the other priorities, too, and I wish we had more time, but given the breaking news, we're kind of limited. I'd love to talk with you more about these redistricting fights, that Virginia referendum goes to its State Supreme Court tomorrow, and many others. But obviously, Democrats are feeling bullish on flipping the House. And this week, Axios reported that there's a push for day one impeachment: 'Democrats pushing their colleagues to begin building the case against President Trump now in anticipation of a day one impeachment vote if they retake the House.' If you become Speaker, is that your top priority?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Of course not, and I've made clear from the very beginning that our top priority is going to be to drive down the high cost of living. We believe in this country, you work hard, you play by the rules, you should be able to live an affordable life, a comfortable life, in fact, to live the good life. And that means a good-paying job and good housing, good healthcare, good education for your children and when it's all said and done, a good retirement. That's been the American dream for decades, but for far too many people, that American dream has slipped out of reach.And we should be focused on actually doing the type of things necessary to ensure that people in this country cannot simply survive, but they can thrive.

SHANNON BREAM: And that, of course, will be the heart of all of these midterm campaigns. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, thank you for coming back. Good to see you.

LEADER JEFFRIES: Thank you.

Full interview can be watched here.

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