House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is defending the conduct of the “majority” of his fellow Democrats during President Trump’s defiant speech before Congress Tuesday night.
But he declined to weigh in on the protests by a smaller group of Democrats during the marathon address, most notably Rep. Al Green’s (D-Texas) heckling of the president and subsequent ejection from the chamber.
Jeffries has been among the long list of Democrats who have criticized conservative Republicans for outbursts during State of the Union speeches delivered by Democratic presidents. But he eluded the question of whether Green deserves the same scrutiny.
“[An] overwhelming majority of House Democrats approached the speech with the seriousness that it deserved on behalf of the American people,” Jeffries told a small group of reporters Wednesday morning in the Capitol.
Heading into Trump’s speech, Jeffries had advised Democratic lawmakers to do what they thought best fit their district. For some, that meant boycotting the event. For most others, it meant attending, out of a reverence for the tradition, but sitting silently to protest Trump’s message.
But Democratic leaders had also cautioned lawmakers not to make waves during the speech, lest the protests overshadow the content of Trump’s words. In a letter to his troops on Monday, Jeffries advocated the importance of having “a strong, determined and dignified Democratic presence in the chamber.” Other lawmakers interpreted his message plainly: Don’t make it about you.
Green’s protest, just minutes into Trump’s speech, has energized many liberals in the Democrats’ base — a group that’s accused party leaders of not showing enough fight in opposition to Trump’s early wave of executive maneuvers.
But it also angered more moderate Democrats on and off of Capitol Hill, who thought the Democrats were finally finding their footing with attacks on the GOP’s plans for Medicaid cuts, and fear that Tuesday’s protests have distracted from that focus.
Jeffries, for one, is trying to get the party back on track, shifting questions about Green to the topic of health care.
“We just had a conversation about the Republican effort to take health care away from millions of Americans by enacting the largest Medicaid cut in American history,” he said. “We’re going to continue to keep the focus on the American people.”
Republicans are already promising resolutions to censure Green for the outburst. Jeffries declined to say how Democrats would approach such a bill if it hits the floor.
“I haven’t had that conversation with anyone yet,” he said.
