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EXCLUSIVE: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is hitting back at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., after he called her “sick” among other attacks on Friday morning.
“Hakeem and Democrats are lashing out because they know what I said is true,” Leavitt told Fox News Digital. “The Democrat Party’s elected officials absolutely cater to pro-Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals. House Democrats voted against a resolution condemning Hamas following the horrific October 7th terrorist attacks, and Democrats cheered on pro-Hamas radicals while they hijacked America’s college campuses and harassed Jewish students.”
“Democrats opened our borders and allowed tens of millions of illegal aliens into our country over the past four years, including rapists and murderers, because they view them as future voters,” she continued. “Democrats coddle violent criminals and support soft-on-crime policies like cashless bail that let violent offenders back on the streets to hurt law-abiding citizens.”
She then went after Jeffries directly while criticizing Democrats as a whole for blocking the GOP’s federal funding bill.
SCREAMING MATCH ERUPTS BETWEEN HAKEEM JEFFRIES, MIKE LAWLER AS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CHAOS CONTINUES
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt traded barbs on Friday. (Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images; Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
“Democrats do NOT serve the interests of the American people. Hakeem Jeffries is an America Last, stone-cold loser. Now open up the government and stop simping to try to get your radical left-wing base to like you,” Leavitt said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Jeffries’ office for a response.
Earlier Friday, Jeffries criticized Republicans as a whole for their attacks against Democrats, before he turned the focus to Leavitt specifically during a press conference.
“You’ve got Karoline Leavitt, who’s sick. She’s out of control,” Jeffries said. “And I’m not sure whether she’s just demented, ignorant, a stone-cold liar or all of the above.”
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks at a press briefing in the James Brady Press Briefing room at the White House in Washington, Oct. 6, 2025. (Associated Press)
He added, “But the notion that an official White House spokesperson would say that the Democratic Party consists of terrorists, violent criminals and undocumented immigrants makes no sense, that this is what the American people are getting from the Trump administration in the middle of a shutdown.”
Tensions have run high on both sides as the shutdown drags on, and the standoff shows no signs of slowing down.
The government shut down after Congress failed to reach an agreement on federal funding. (Getty Images)
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In fact, it’s expected to roll into its fourth week after Senate Democrats blocked the GOP’s federal funding measure for a tenth time on Thursday before leaving Washington for the weekend.
Republicans put forward last month a seven-week extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding levels, called a continuing resolution (CR), aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a long-term deal for FY2026.
But Democrats in the House and Senate were infuriated by being sidelined in those talks. The majority of Democrats are refusing to accept any deal that does not include serious healthcare concessions, at least extending COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.
