The minority leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, hesitated to support the alleged nominated for the mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, but praised his campaign and messages of “successful”.
“I have not done it,” Jeffries said when asked about the co-presenter of “This Week,” Jonathan Karl, if he had backed the self-proclaimed democratic socialist candidate.
Jeffries said he spoke with Mamdani on Wednesday and plans to meet in person soon in the center of Brooklyn.
“I congratulated him for the campaign he directed, a campaign that clearly focused relentlessly on the high cost of living in New York City and the economy. He sutured, was communicated and organized the opposition, and it is clearly because he succeeded,” he added.
Chamber minority leader, representative, Hakeem Jeffries, talks to ABC News while appearing this week, on June 29, 2025.
ABC News
He pressed why he was containing Mamdani, Jeffries said: “We really don’t know each other well.”
“Well, our districts do not overlap. I have never had a substantive conversation with him. And that is the next step in terms of this process … to discuss his vision to advance the city and address the problems that are important for the communities I represent,” he said.
Jeffries touched a question about how Mamdani’s victory is related to the future of the Democratic Party.
“I think it will remain important for all of us on the democratic side to address the problem of lack of affordability in this country. Donald Trump promised to reduce costs on day 1. The costs have not come down, they are rising,” he said.
By positions of Mamdani and anti -Semitism
Jeffries said Mamdani will need to “clarify” his position on Israel and anti -Semitism.
“Globalize intifada, as an example, is not an acceptable writing,” he said. “You will have to clarify your position in respect as you advance. With respect to the Jewish communities I represent, I think our nominated will have to convince people that they are prepared to aggressively address the increase in anti -Semitism in New York City, which has been an unacceptable development.”
In the house session on US attacks on Iran
Pressing the classified information session on Friday at the Chamber on the United States strikes on Iran, Jeffries was skeptical about the information provided by the Trump administration.
“Why didn’t they seek the authorization of the Congress required by the Constitution for this type of preventive strike?” asked. “I have not yet seen facts presented as a congress to justify that step, and I have certainly not seen facts to justify the statement that Donald Trump caused Iran’s nuclear program to have been completely erased.”
On the ruling of the citizenship of birth law of the Supreme Court
On Friday, the Supreme Court granted a partial stay of national expensive against the executive order of President Donald Trump to effectively end birth citizenship. Jeffries described the “unfortunate” and “reckless” decision.
“If there is any instance in which the national mandates are appropriate, it would be in a way like what we have just experienced in terms of citizenship of birth law, which is clearly part of the Constitution. If he was born as a child in the United States of America, you are a citizen. Then, it was a backward procedure that was quite unfortunate, and it was a reckless decision, in my opinion,” he said.
He said that the Democrats will need to “intensify our efforts” in the district courts or work on a collective claim on behalf of the people “negatively affected.”
