House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told MS NOW host Ali Velshi that House Republicans are not operating as a co-equal branch of government and instead as a “wholly-owned subsidiary of the Trump cartel.” “We know Republicans have brought us a health care crisis that is devastating the American people,” Jeffries said in an interview on Thursday. “And we’ll continue to point out as Democrats that Republicans can either stand on the side of the American people and uplift our values and our way of life, or continue to be reckless rubber stamps for Donald Trump’s extreme agenda. And if they continue to do the latter, they’re going to lose.” “Hopefully you’ll have a handful of enlightened Republicans decide that they better stop functioning in a cult-like fashion and start functioning like they’re part of a separate and co-equal branch of government, not a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Trump cartel,” Jeffries said.

VELSHI: This — what do you make of this business about nationalizing elections? Every — every day Donald Trump sort of says it differently and then some Republicans say they don’t like it, and the White House walks it back. But he is talking about not — not changing our entire election system, just changing it in some places. He mentioned Detroit and Philadelphia and Atlanta. I wonder what they all have in common. It’s dangerous talk. One can laugh about it, but it’s really dangerous talk. JEFFRIES: It’s dangerous talk. It unsettles the American people, and it should. Listen, Donald Trump understands that if there is a free and fair election in November, and we’re going to make sure there is one, that the House is lost, Democrats are going to take back control of the House of Representatives. And the Senate is looking increasingly shaky as well, because the American people are rejecting this extremism. Donald Trump and Republicans have failed. They failed on the economy. They failed on health care. They’re failing on immigration enforcement. They failed to address the challenges of the American people and certainly address them in a way that is consistent with who we are as we celebrate our 250th birthday. And so we — we have adopted an all hands on deck approach in terms of making sure that it’s the American people who are the ones who decide who controls Congress in the aftermath of the November midterm elections, not Donald Trump and his extreme sycophants. VELSHI: Congressman, good to see you. Thank you for taking time for us tonight, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

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