MSNBC "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Hakeem Jeffries

Interview

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O`DONNELL: Leading off our discussion tonight is Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York. He`s the chair of the House Democratic Caucus.

Congressman Jeffries, we out here watching you there in the Capitol doing your jobs, do so with a certain wonder about how you can do it, how you can maintain your patience, how you can go through the day attempting to govern using the normal tools of governing while there is this utterly crazy group of people -- not all the Republicans in the House -- but a very substantial number of Republicans in the House, as you put it, out of control.

JEFFRIES: Good evening, Lawrence. Always a pleasure to be with you.

The cult is totally out of control and we don`t have a functional two-party system in America right now. We`ve got Democrats. We`ve got a handful of reasonable Republicans, and then we`ve got people who continue to bend a knee to the cult of Donald Trump.

What keeps us going, however, is the fact that the challenges facing the American people are so significant. We have work to continue to do to crush this virus. Joe Biden, our president, has been an amazing leader in that regard. She stood up a very strong and robust public health infrastructure, one of the reasons why he`s prepared and America is prepared to deal with this new Omicron variant. But there`s still more work to be done in that regard.

We, of course, passed the bipartisan infrastructure to fix our crumbling bridges, roads, tunnels, our airports, mass transportation system, bring about universal broadband access so necessary in the midst of a pandemic where everyone needs access to high-speed Internet. It`s the urgency of the issues.

And of course, finally, getting the Build Back Better Act over the finish line and protecting voting rights. It will be nice if we had partners on the other side of the aisle to try to tackle s of these challenges we`re facing as Americans. But we don`t. And so we proceed onward, thankful for the leadership of President Biden.

O`DONNELL: What I`ve noticed in what Republican Congresswoman Mace was saying about Republican Congresswoman Greene is it sounded exactly like, and I mean exactly like what Marco Rubio was saying about Donald Trump when he was running against him for president, what Ted Cruz was saying about Donald Trump when he was running against him for president. And we`ve seen both of those men completely shrink and shrivel and melt into door mats for Trump, slavishly devoted to Donald Trump.

It doesn`t seem like that`s where this is going with Congressman Mace. She`s calling Greene a grifter. She`s using language that you can`t pull back.

JEFFRIES: She was part of the first group of women that graduated from the Citadel in South Carolina. She represents a somewhat diverse district. She flipped a blue seat, made it red in 2020.

I think she`s a woman of integrity but also someone who recognizes that politically, her constituents are not the type to embrace the radical right Republican rhetoric that we`re hearing from members like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Lauren Boebert or Paul Gosar and the rest of the deplorable group that is so predominant now on the other side of the aisle.

O`DONNELL: I want to listen to something Liz Cheney said about Jeffrey Clark and his intention to take the Fifth Amendment when he testifies to the January 6th Committee on Saturday. This is very important business of the House, and let`s listen to the way Representative Cheney sees this.

[22:15:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Mr. Clark last night indicated that he intends to invoke the fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination apparently because he believes testimony about his interactions with President Trump would tend to incriminate him, and thus may subject him to criminal prosecution. We will depose Mr. Clark on Saturday, and at that point, we will know exactly what testimony Clark believes may incriminate him. We are making rapid progress.

We anticipate next year, we will be conducting multiple weeks of public hearings, setting out for the American people in vivid color exactly what happened every minute of the day on January 6th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL: And so what`s so striking about that is that the time they want from him is basically his exchanges with Donald Trump. And he`s saying that he believes it`s possible that some of his answers to those questions could lead to him being charged with federal crimes.

JEFFRIES: And I expected that absolutely could be the case. I mean, Donald Trump and all of the president`s men make Richard Nixon and his group look like choir boys. And the January 6th commission operating in a bipartisan fashion is going to continue to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution, let the truth fall where it may and then present nothing but the entire truth to the American people.

And I think it`s going to be deeply troubling when that is revealed. And so clearly, Jeffrey Clark is already signaling perhaps that crimes may have been committed either by himself or in partnership with others. And that`s why he`s not saying anything. He`s clamming up.

And by the way, it is Donald Trump who said only guilty people plead the fifth. Now, I respect the presumption of innocence, but this is Donald Trump`s own standard of what may be signaling criminality.

O`DONNELL: Before you go, I just want to get your reaction to where we stand tonight in your state of New York dealing with this new COVID variant. President Biden wants new rules on people entering the country through JFK airport, one of the principal ports that you have in your state. Governor Hochul has already said that the state needs -- is stepping up in terms of dealing with this new variant, which has now been discovered in multiple cases in the state of New York as we knew that it would be.

Are you confident that the governor and the president have the right approach to this?

JEFFRIES: I think the governor and President Biden have shown extraordinary leadership and are prepared for this moment. They, of course, have to be flexible to see where the science leads us. There`s still a lot of information that we need to acquire from the data, and I know the public health professionals are hard at work.

But I think I just urge the American people to remain vigilant. Make sure you`ve been vaccinated. If you`ve been vaccinated, make sure that you get your booster shot and continue to rely upon the advice and guidance being presented by the public health professionals.

And collectively together New Yorkers and America, we`re going to get through this. We have great leadership. The best is yet to come, and when we pass the Build Back Better Act, millions of good paying jobs are on the way, lower taxes for working families and lower costs in areas like child care and health care and affordable housing.

This great country of ours is in good hands, and I`m thankful for that.

O`DONNELL: Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, thank you very much for starting off our conversations tonight. Really appreciate it.

JEFFRIES: Thank you, Lawrence.

O`DONNELL: Thank you.

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