House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) defended his private meeting with Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and top outside adviser of President Donald Trump.
Jeffries, who received significant progressive backlash over the meeting, told reporters Monday that Kushner had requested the meeting and that the pair’s discussion largely focused on the affordability crisis and opportunities to “make life more affordable for the American people.”
The meeting between the duo comes as the minority leader eyes the speaker’s gavel should Democrats secure a House majority in the November midterm elections.
When asked if he would take another meeting with Kushner now, or if he becomes speaker, Jeffries said the “reality” of legislative business requires that Democrats in Congress “talk to the other side of the aisle when there’s pressing business to be done on behalf of the American people.”
“That’s just the reality of governance,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries said Democrats are committed to addressing the affordability crisis, but that to do so, “You have to have conversations with people on the other side of the aisle, people who you probably aggressively disagree with on the overwhelming majority of issues.”
The minority leader pointed to the bipartisan housing bill that Congress passed earlier this year to address housing costs in the United States, commending Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for taking the lead for Democrats on the legislation.
“And together, Democrats, finding common ground with Republicans in the House and in the Senate, congressman French Hill [a Republican from Arkansas], the chair of the Financial Services Committee, was a responsible actor in that regard,” Jeffries said. “We got something meaningful done for the American people on the housing affordability issue.”
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Jeffries went on to say that, at the same time, Democrats plan to “hold the crooks accountable because this is unprecedented corruption that has been unleashed on the American people.”
“Simple approach: follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution, let the chips fall where they may,” Jeffries said. “No one’s getting the pass as it relates to the Trump cartel.”