Jeffries on if He Regrets Calling Trump the ‘Grand Wizard’: ‘Not at All’

‘We’ve got to have an opportunity for at least one day a year to have a candid, if sometimes uncomfortable, conversation about race’

EXCERPT:

CAMEROTA: "On Martin Luther King Day Congressman Hakeem Jeffries made controversial comments about President Trump."
[clip starts]
JEFFRIES: "We have a hater in the White House, a birther-in-chief, the grand wizard of 1600 Pennsylvania. One of the things that we’ve learned is that while Jim Crow may be dead, he’s still got some nieces and nephews that are alive and well."
[clip ends]
CAMEROTA: “Joining us now is the House Democratic Caucus chair, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York to talk about this and so much more. Congressman, thank you very much for being here this morning. Do you regret going that far in your comments on Monday?”
JEFFRIES: “Not at all. Let me say three things. First of all our top priority has to continue to be to reopen the government in this reckless Trump shutdown, put Americans back to work, and then have a mature conversation about border security. Second, we as House Democrats are going to continue to focus on lowering healthcare costs, infrastructure, cleaning up corruption, and kitchen table pocketbook issues. Third, with respect to the comments of a few days ago, we’ve got to have an opportunity for at least one day a year to have a candid, if sometimes uncomfortable, conversation about race. Seems to me that we can’t have that conversation on Valentine’s Day, we can’t have that conversation on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s perhaps appropriate for us to be able to have that difficult discussion on MLK Day when we’re celebrating the life and legacy of a champion for racial and social justice.”

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