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MAMDANIMANIA: ABC’s Jon Karl Makes Rep. Jeffries Squirm Uncomfortably #Political

June 29, 2025
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House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries came on ABC’s This Week hoping to talk about the Big, Beautiful Bill and the current events of the day. Instead, he was made to squirm over not yet bending the knee to socialist Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.

Karl immediately greets Jeffries with the Mandani question, to which Jeffries offers a tepid “We don’t really know each other.” (Click “expand” to view transcript)

JON KARL: I'm joined now by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Let -- let’s start with the big news, Leader Jeffries, out of your home town. Mamdani won a big victory. Have you endorsed him yet?

HAKEEM JEFFRIES: I have not. We had a conversation on Wednesday morning where I congratulated him on the campaign that he ran, a campaign that clearly was relentlessly focused on the high cost of living in New York City and the economy. He out worked, he out communicated and he out organized the opposition. And that’s clearly why he was successful.

KARL: So, what’s holding you back from endorsing him right now?

JEFFRIES: Well, we don’t really know each other well. Our districts don’t overlap. I have never had a substantive conversation with him. And so, that’s the next step in terms of this process, to be able to sit down, which we agreed to do, in central Brooklyn, discuss his vision for moving the city forward and addressing the issues that are important to the communities that I represent. A very diverse district that I represent in Brooklyn, including many African Americans, many Jewish Americans, many Caribbean Americans who are dealing with a lot of challenges in the city and want to make sure that the next mayor of the city of New York, whoever that may be, is prepared to tackle them.

Karl offered no follow-up question to that, instead pivoting to whether Mamdani’s “Democratic Socialism” is the future. Jeffries didn’t even acknowledge the premise of the question:

Jeffries is not amused with having to answer these questions, and it shows. But Karl dutifully moves on rather than pressing Jeffries as he would a Republican under similar circumstances.

JON KARL: Mamdani calls himself a democratic socialist. He proposed, obviously, big tax increases, free mass transit, free bus fares, government-run grocery stores. Is this the progressive socialism that is -- we're going to see as the future of the Democratic Party, or is this unique to New York City?

HAKEEM JEFFRIES: I think that one of the things we've been clear about from the very beginning, as House Democrats, is that we need to relentlessly focus on addressing the high cost of living in the United States of America. This country is far too expensive for working class Americans, for middle class Americans, for all those who aspire to be part of the middle class. Imagine a country where every single hard-working American taxpayer can afford to live the good life, work hard, play by the rules, have a good paying job, good health care, be able to afford a home, educate your children, go on vacation every now and then, and one day retire with grace and dignity. The good life. The American dream. That is not accessible to everyone. And so I think it will continue to be important for all of us on the Democratic side to address relentlessly the issue of the lack of affordability in this country. Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. Costs haven't gone down. They're going up. In fact, the guy is crashing the economy in real time, imposing these reckless Trump tariffs that are going to increase costs by thousands of dollars a year, and he may even drive us toward a recession.

Jeffries is then asked the “Globalize the Intifada” question: 

JON KARL: You mentioned the diversity of your district, including a lot of Jewish constituents. Mamdani has made comments that some have said veer towards antisemitism. His initial statement after October 7th, he criticized the Israeli government but didn't criticize Hamas. He defended the use of the word globalize -- of the phrase :globalize intifada" and Prime Minister Netanyahu should be arrested, or he would if he were mayor, he would arrest Netanyahu if he visited New York City. Do these things concern you?

HAKEEM JEFFRIES: Globalizing the intifada, by way of example, is not an acceptable phrasing. He's going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward. With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York which has been an unacceptable development. And any mayor, whether you're a Democratic mayor, Republican mayor, an independent mayor, has got to commit to the safety and well-being of all of the people of the City of New York. And when there are moments of crisis and a rise in anti-Jewish hate, that's a threshold, of course, that needs to be crossed. With respect to the African American and Caribbean American communities that I represent, it's going to be important for our nominee to articulate the case for dramatically and decisively addressing the rise in gentrification and the housing displacement that threatens to continue to wipe out low and moderate income black and Latino communities in New York City. It's an unacceptable phenomenon and the next mayor of the City of New York has to be able to articulate a clear plan and commitment to address these concerns for the people I represent and folks all across the great City of New York.

Karl then pivots, with no followup, to questions on the politics of the day. What the interview made very clear is that the left is in disarray as a result of the NYC mayoral primary, and the media has no clue how to address it.

Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on ABC This Week on Sunday, June 29th, 2025:

ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Together, New York, we have renewed our democracy. We have given our cities permission to believe again. In our New York, the power belongs to the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JON KARL That was 33-year-old Democratic socialist Zohan Mamdani, who shocked the political world with his victory in the New York Democratic primary for mayor.

I'm joined now by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

Let -- let’s start with the big news, Leader Jeffries, out of your home town. Mamdani won a big victory. Have you endorsed him yet?

JEFFRIES: I have not. We had a conversation on Wednesday morning where I congratulated him on the campaign that he ran, a campaign that clearly was relentlessly focused on the high cost of living in New York City and the economy. He out worked, he out communicated and he out organized the opposition. And that’s clearly why he was successful.

KARL: So, what’s holding you back from endorsing him right now?

JEFFRIES: Well, we don’t really know each other well. Our districts don’t overlap. I have never had a substantive conversation with him. And so, that’s the next step in terms of this process, to be able to sit down, which we agreed to do, in central Brooklyn, discuss his vision for moving the city forward and addressing the issues that are important to the communities that I represent. A very diverse district that I represent in Brooklyn, including many African Americans, many Jewish Americans, many Caribbean Americans who are dealing with a lot of challenges in the city and want to make sure that the next mayor of the city of New York, whoever that may be, is prepared to tackle them.

KARL: Mamdani calls himself a Democratic socialist. He proposed, obviously, big tax increases, free mass transit, free bus fares, government run grocery stores. Is this the kind of progressive socialism it is -- we’re going to see as the future of the Democratic Party or is this unique to New York City?

JEFFRIES: I think that one of the things we've been clear about from the very beginning as House Democrats is that we need to relentlessly focus on addressing the high cost of living in the United States of America. This country is far to expensive for working class Americans, for middle class Americans, for all those who aspire to be part of the middle class.

Imagine a country where every single, hard-working American taxpayer can afford to live the good life, work hard, play by the rules, have a good paying job, good health care, be able to afford a home, educate your children, go on vacation every now and then, and one day retire with grace and dignity. The good life. The American dream. That is not accessible to everyone. And so I think it will continue to be important for all of us on the Democratic side to address relentlessly the issue of the lack of affordability in this country.

Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. Costs haven’t gone down. They’re going up. In fact, the guy is crashing the economy in real time and posing these reckless Trump tariffs that are going to increase costs by thousands of dollars a year. And he may even drive us toward a recession.

KARL: You mentioned the diversity of your district, including a lot of Jewish constituents. Mamdani has made comments that some have said veer towards anti-Semitism. His initial statement after October 7th, he criticized the Israeli government but didn’t criticize Hamas. He defended the use of the word globalize -- or the phrase “globalize intifada.” And he even said that the Israeli prime minister, Netanyahu, should be arrested -- or he would if he were mayor, he would arrest Netanyahu if he visited New York City.

Do these things concern you?

JEFFRIES: Globalizing the intifada by way of example is not an acceptable phrasing. He’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward.

With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in anti-Semitism in the city of New York, which has been an unacceptable development. And any mayor, whether you’re a Democratic mayor, a Republican mayor, an independent mayor, has got to commit to the safety and well-being of all of the people of the city of New York. And when there are moments of crisis and a rise in anti-Jewish hate, that’s a threshold, of course, that needs to be crossed.

With respect to the African American and Caribbean American communities that I represent, it’s going to be important for our nominee to articulate the case for dramatically and decisively addressing the rise in gentrification and the housing displacement that threatens to continue to wipe out low and moderate income, black and Latino communities in New York City. It’s an unacceptable phenomenon. And the next mayor of the city of New York has to be able to articulate a clear plan and commitment to address these concerns for the people that I represent and folks all across the great city of New York.

KARL: All right, let’s turn to developments here in Washington. The Supreme Court (INAUDIBLE) decision empowering Donald Trump by limiting the power of judges to stop his executive orders or to freeze his executive orders. How big a deal is this? This was really the one way -- the one restraint on his actions that’s been effective so far.

JEFFRIES: Well, it was an unfortunate decision from a procedural standpoint as it relates to what should have been a very clear case. If there is any instance where nationwide injunctions are appropriate, it would be in a -- in a manner like what we’ve just experienced in terms of birthright citizenship, which is clearly a part of the Constitution. If you are born as a child in the United States of American, you are a citizen. So, it was a procedural setback that was quite unfortunate, and it was a reckless decision, in my view.

However, in terms of the fight judicially to protect birthright citizenship, that remains alive and well. And we’re just going to have to intensify our efforts now in district court after district court or to get a class action certified on behalf of people who may be adversely impacted by this reckless Trump executive order.

KARL: And -- and you were at the briefing, the classified briefing, Friday on Iran and on the U.S. air strikes. Did you get satisfactory answers and do you have a sense now, was the program really -- I mean the president says obliterated, but -- but what did you learn?

JEFFRIES: Well, let’s be clear, Iran is a sworn enemy of the United States of America, as well as our allies in the Middle East, like Israel and Jordan. And we can never allow Iran to be a nuclear capable power.

That said, there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered, in my view, as it relates to the actions that the Trump administration took relative to Iran. Why did they not seek the congressional authorization required by the Constitution for this type of preemptive strike? I still haven’t seen facts presented to us as a Congress to justify that step, and I certainly haven’t seen facts to justify the statement that Donald Trump made that Iran’s nuclear program has been completely and totally obliterated.

We also need the case to be made by the administration to the American people as to how to best accomplish the objective of preventing Iran from becoming nuclear capable. Why did they abandon the aggressive diplomacy that was successful under the Obama administration, and what is their plan to stop us from getting into another failed Middle Eastern war. A lot of questions that need to be answered. And those answers haven’t been compelling to date.

KARL: All right, a lot of questions for sure. Leader Jeffries, thank you for joining us.

JEFFRIES: Thank you.

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