Hakeem Jeffries says Dems will fight Trump policies 'in the streets'—White House demands apology

In a press conference on Friday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called for Democrats to "fight" the Trump administration's plans "in the streets," leading to the White House calling for Jeffries to apologize.

Jeffries said Democrats "need to keep focused on the need to look out for everyday New Yorkers and everyday Americans who are under assault by an extreme MAGA Republican agenda that is trying to cut taxes for billionaire donors and wealthy corporations and then stick New Yorkers and working-class Americans across the country with the bill."

Jeffries said that this was "not acceptable," and that "we are going to fight it legislatively. We are going to fight it in the courts. We’re going to fight it in the streets."

On Friday afternoon, the White House called for Jeffries to issue an apology after calling for Democrats to "fight" the Trump administration’s plans "in the streets."

"At a press conference this morning in Brooklyn, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) made a sick call for violence and incited his followers to 'fight' President Trump’s agenda 'in the streets.' Will Minority Leader Jeffries apologize for this disgusting threat? Or will he double down on the same calls for violence that have plagued the country for years?"

Rep. Yvette Clark, who also chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, told reporters at the press conference, "Let me just say this, this is not our first time under the leadership of Donald Trump. We experienced the barrage of cruel and just extraordinary measures that he was taking commandeer the power of our nation."

"What we are focused on are the lives of the American people, focused on pushing back whether it’s legislative, whether it’s through hearings and educating and informing the public," she said, adding that there’s been "a lot of misinformation" and "propaganda" from Trump and the "MAGA maniacs."

"We’re going to debunk that every step of the way, and we’re going to be focused on the American people. So we’re not going to follow every diabolical issue that he throws at us," she said, adding that Democrats would remain "focused on the lives of the American people, and where possible, we’re going to stand against it."

"If it's a legislative matter, certainly, the leader has given us directives on how we will stand together to make sure that we push back, push back hard, and thwart the ideas and the plans that this administration has set forth."

"Clearly, they put forth a project 2025, manifesto," she said, noting that "a lot of that must go through the legislative project" and there are members of the Congressional Black Caucus on "every committee jurisdiction" and "We will certainly make sure that Donald Trump recognizes that the American people are not going to fall for his foolishness. We will not stand idly by why he tries to commandeer this democracy and turn it into a dictatorship."