House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Friday called White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt “sick” for what she said about Democrats.
Ms. Leavitt, in a Fox News interview on Thursday, said the Democratic Party’s main constituency is “made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals.”
“She’s out of control,” Mr. Jeffries, New York Democrat, said. “And I’m not sure whether she’s just demented, ignorant, a stone-cold liar or all of the above, but the notion that an official White House spokesperson would say that the Democratic Party consists of terrorists, violent criminals and undocumented immigrants? This makes no sense that this is what the American people are getting from the Trump administration in the middle of a shutdown.”
The Washington Times reached out to Ms. Leavitt and the White House for comment.
Mr. Jeffries brought up Ms. Leavitt’s comments when asked during a press conference about information regarding the origins of a small American flag altered to include a swastika that was found displayed inside the office of Rep. Dave Taylor and allegedly distributed to other Republican offices.
Mr. Taylor, Ohio Republican, condemned the swastika, had the flag taken down immediately and is working with Capitol Police to investigate the incident.
“Numerous Republican offices have confirmed that they were targeted by an unidentified group or individual who distributed American flags bearing a similar symbol, which were initially indistinguishable from an ordinary American flag to the naked eye,” Mr. Taylor said in a statement. “My office was among those that were subjected to this ruse. After a full-scale internal investigation, I am confident that no employee of this office would knowingly display such a despicable image.”
Mr. Jeffries said he hasn’t received any more information from House GOP leaders but called it “a matter of deep concern.”
“We’ve already seen a rise in political violence and hatred in America, and then you’ve got swastikas apparently appearing in the offices of Republican members of Congress,” he said. “You’ve got young Republicans engaging in the most antisemitic and racist speech possible.”
He added, “This is apparently who many of these people are. They are ripping the sheets off in plain view of the American people, their words, their actions, revealing themselves in so many different ways.”
Mr. Jeffries then launched into his comments about Ms. Leavitt.
Ms. Leavitt’s comments about Democrats came in response to a question about Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, refusing to say Hamas should lay down its arms.
“Well, that’s a classic case of: I don’t want to answer the question because I know it’s wildly unpopular,” she said of Mr. Mamdani.
“This interview proved that the Democrat Party’s main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals,” Ms. Leavitt said. “That is who the Democrat Party is catering to.”
She then contrasted that to the Trump administration and Republicans “standing up for law-abiding Americans, not just across the country, but around the world.”
She went on, “Where are all of the ’free Palestine’ protesters? It’s President Trump who freed Palestine, literally, and they are now very much quiet. Because why? They can’t stand President Trump, and that is the basis of the Democrat Party today. They don’t stand for anything except for catering to their far-left base, which, as I said, includes antisemites, includes Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals who they want to let off freely to roam in American streets.”
