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Hakeem Jeffries cries everybody else was doing it when confronted on calling Trump ‘illegitimate’

December 4, 2022 | | Print Article

House Minority Leader-elect Hakeem Jeffries is, going by the standards established by the left, a vile election denier. Yet when confronted about his election-denying behavior this Sunday, he tried to play it off as a nothing burger.

Indeed, during an appearance on ABC News’ “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos played a clip of Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell slamming Jefferies’ election-denying behavior and then asked him for his response.

Jeffries initially responded by acting as if it’s Republicans who’ve done something wrong.

Listen:

“Well, you know, it’s unfortunate that Republicans have chosen to focus on me. House Democrats are going to focus on solving problems for the American people,” he said.

To Stephanopoulos’ rare credit, he responded by essentially saying not so fast.

“But you did say that history will never accept Donald Trump as legitimate president, and the Republicans are making quite a big issue out of that. What is your response?” the host said.

Jeffries responded this time by talking pure, unadulterated trash.

“Well, here’s the Republican playbook: Facts don’t matter, hypocrisy is not a constraint to their behavior, and in many cases, they believe shamelessness is a superpower,” he said.

So in response to being called out for his clear-cut hypocrisy —  he’s one of many Democrats who’ve been fierce critics of former President Donald Trump’s own election-denying behavior — he called Republicans hypocrites.

“My view of the situation has been pretty clear, I supported the certification of Donald Trump’s election, I attended his inauguration even though there were many constituents and others across the country pushing me and others to do otherwise, and found ways to work with the Trump administration being the lead Democrat in negotiating historical criminal justice reform,” Jeffries continued.

“That track record speaks for itself. At the same time, I will never hesitate in criticizing the former president. I think I’m in good company there throughout the world,” he added.

As previously reported, Jeffries’ election-denying behavior spans six years, as it began in early 2017, right after the 2016 presidential election:

“There is a cloud of illegitimacy around the election of Donald Trump. The Russians interfered with his election. James Comey and the FBI interfered with the election. The fake news industry interfered with the election,” he said at the time.

Later that year, he posted a tweet claiming the “legitimacy of Trump’s presidential election” was “in doubt.”

Look:

After then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in 2018 indicted a group of Russians who’d run a “troll farm” during the 2016 election, Jeffries posted another tweet claiming the election was “illegitimate.”

Look:

Later that year he outright accused Republicans of having cheated in the 2016 presidential election.

“LIE (more than any administration in the history of the Republic). CHEAT (2016 election/Russian Interference). STEAL (one or two Supreme Court seats). When will Republicans put country ahead of party? #CleanUpCorruption,” he tweeted.

Look:

The following year, he posted a Twitter quiz asking his followers whether Trump was “a legitimate president,” “a Russian Asset,” “an organized crime boss,” or a “useful idiot.”

Then in 2020, he posted a tweet accusing then-President Donald Trump of trying to “steal” the 2020 presidential election.

Look:

These examples go on for days and days, but both Jeffries and most of his media allies have sought to downplay them.

Over at Time magazine, for instance, the far-left outlet ran a piece last week claiming it’s somehow not fair to call Jeffries an election denier.

Why? Because that term is only appropriate for Republicans, apparently …

“The term ‘election denier’ has taken on a particular meaning, however, after Trump’s failed re-election campaign. The phrase has come to be associated with Republicans who claim the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, assert without evidence there was fraud in 2020 voting, and cast doubt on secure voting systems—claims that lead to the deadly January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol,” according to Time.

Dovetailing back to McConnell, he for one isn’t falling for the left’s gaslighting. Speaking on the Senate floor this Thursday,  he slammed Democrats like Jeffries for undermining America’s institutions “when they are unhappy with a given outcome.”

“Just for example, the newly-elected leader of House Democrats, a past election denier, basically said the 2016 election was ‘illegitimate’ and suggested that we had a ”fake president.’ He’s also mounted reckless attacks on our independent judiciary and said that justices he didn’t like had, quote, ‘zero legitimacy,'” the Senate GOP leader said.

Vivek Saxena
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