On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Story Is,” House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said that President Donald Trump is “lying to the American people, he’s fearmongering” about the DHS shutdown and argued that it’s the GOP’s fault that the shutdown exists.
Host Elex Michaelson said, “So, right now, there is still a sort of fight and shutdown over DHS funding that started before this war happened. There’s a question now that some have raised about this possibility that Iran may enact its sleeper cells and activate them in the United States. President Trump talked about that today. Here’s some of what he said:”
He then played video of Trump saying, “Yeah, we know a lot about them. The biggest problem we have is the Democrats’ shutdown. We know a lot about them. But the shutdown doesn’t allow us to do what we have to do.”
Michaelson then asked, “So the President saying that Americans are being endangered because the Department of Homeland Security cannot go after Iranian sleeper cells. What’s your response to that?”
Jeffries answered, “Well, the President’s lying to the American people, he’s fearmongering, and he knows that. Now, Republicans have made the decision that they would rather shut down every other aspect of the Department of Homeland Security, which, we, as Democrats, have repeatedly made clear, we are prepared to fund. That includes, of course, FEMA and the Coast Guard and TSA and the national security, cybersecurity parts of the Department of Homeland Security that are separate and apart from ICE and from the other agencies that have been brutalizing the American people using taxpayer dollars.”
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