Al Sharpton hosted Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on his MSNBC' show PoliticsNation Saturday evening, just days after Jeffries’s historic 8 hour and 44 minute waste of time on the House floor arguing against the Big Beautiful Bill. One might think giving a man capable of wasting that much time on-air an interview would be a dangerous call, but for Sharpton, who led a softball interview without offering any pushback, Jeffries talking too much did not seem to be a concern.
After he spoke on his attempted filibuster, Sharpton guided Jeffries through a slew of topics, opening each one with a question designed to tee up Jeffries for a long winded response.
Sharpton tried to give Jeffries the chance to politicize the tragic flooding in Texas over the weekend:
Authorities are searching for more than two dozen people missing from a girls summer camp after flash floods that left at least 32 people dead. Authorities are being questioned over whether the camp had sufficient warning about the severe weather. The incident comes as the Trump administration is making deep cuts to weather forecasting services and openly discussing shifting more of the burden for disaster recovery from FEMA to state governments. How concerned are you in light of this?
Jeffries, however, did not follow Sharpton’s lead, opting instead to advocate for bipartisan support for recovery while not responding to the question of what role FEMA cuts may have played into the disaster. Despite having been ignored, Sharpton simply moved on without pushing the question.
In a similar vein, Sharpton asked about President Trump’s Everglades detention center, painting an absurd picture of racism for Jeffries to comment on:
Florida's attorney general says that the first group of immigrants have arrived in the Everglades detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” President Trump visited there earlier this week. The Trump administration has embraced the idea of alligator guards as a joke. Those of us familiar with the history of the Jim Crow South know the idea of using black babies as alligator bait has a long, ugly history. The White House tries to claim its immigration policies aren't about race, but don't these stunts expose their motivations very clearly, or at least should raise their sensitivity?
This comparison was a stretch even by generous terms. Trump’s offhand joke that the detention center would have “a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators” in the Everglades, a National Park known for its alligator population, was obviously unrelated to Jim Crow-era targeted racial propaganda.
This time, however, since it suited the narrative he wanted to push, Jeffries indulged Sharpton’s weak connection. He accused Trump of erasing African-American history and called the detention center an extreme and toxic stunt, accusations he could not back up and wasn’t asked to.
Once again opting not to press further, Sharpton switched to his final topic: downplaying New York mayoral candidate Zoran Mamdani and his misrepresentation of his race on college admissions. Jeffries outright ignored the question, instead praising Mamdani on his goal of making New York City affordable.
Sharpton allowed his question to go unanswered, consistently refusing to do anything but give Jeffries another floor on which he could speak as long as he wanted.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read.
MSNBC's PoliticsNation
July 5, 2025
5:01 p.m. ESTAL SHARPTON: Good evening and welcome to PoliticsNation from New Orleans, Louisiana. Tonight's lede: aftermath.
President Trump and Congressional Republicans are celebrating the passage of their tax and spending bill this 4th of July weekend. There's no question that it's big, but its beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The richest among us can look forward to more than $4 trillion in net tax cuts over the next decade. The administration's mass deportation efforts witness a historic windfall, with $45 billion in new funding for ICE alone. But for those who are less wealthy and powerful, it's a different story.
12 million Americans are likely to see their health insurance go away. Three million will watch their SNAP benefits disappear. Economists warn it could be a formula for disaster, adding more than $3 trillion to our national debt in just the coming 10 years, leaving future generations to face the consequences of the political decisions of our leaders and what they made happen today.
Joining me now to get us started is the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Democratic Congressman Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Thank you for joining us. And, Congressman, you made history. You used your “magic minute” during the spending bill debate this week to deliver the longest House floor speech in U.S. history. For anyone who missed the full eight hours and 45 seconds, can you tell us tonight what's wrong with this piece of legislation?
(...)
REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): The “One Big Ugly Bill” hurts everyday Americans and rewards billionaires. It's the largest attack on healthcare in American history. More than 17 million people will lose their healthcare as a result of this “One Big Ugly Bill.” It will end, effectively, Medicaid as we know it. Hospitals will close. Nursing homes will shut down. Community-based health clinics won't be able to operate.
And as a result of the fact that so many people will not be able to get access to health care, folks are going to die all across the United States of America. And for those who have private insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles are likely to go up for millions of Americans. But it also represents the largest cut to supplemental nutritional assistance in American history. Republicans are literally ripping food out of the mouths of hungry children, veterans and seniors.
And all of this, Reverend Sharpton, is being done so that Republicans can award billionaires massive tax breaks as part of an effort to jam their extreme trickle-down economic theory down the throats of the American people and explode the debt by more than $3 trillion.
SHARPTON: Now, there are some Democrats right now who are outraged over what President Trump is doing, who are frustrated Democrats can't do more right now to block him legislatively. What is your message to those critics?
JEFFRIES: Well, listen, it's incredibly important to note that House Democrats and Senate Democrats were united in their strong and principled opposition against Donald Trump's extreme agenda. The problem that we confront is that Republicans have effectively become a rubber stamp for Donald Trump's ideology and his extremism, and have chosen to abandon their role as part of a separate and co-equal branch of government.
You know, as members of Congress, we don't work for Donald Trump. We don't work for JD Vance. We don't work for Elon Musk. We work for the American people. That's why, as House Democrats, our determination was going to stand up for the healthcare, the American people, stand up for veterans and farmers, everyday Americans, the children, the older Americans, the people with disabilities who are all going to be hurt by this “One Big Ugly Bill.”
And the problem that we confront in the legislative branch right now is that Republicans have basically conducted themselves like they're a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump Incorporated, not independently elected folks who are supposed to be serving the best interests of the American people.
SHARPTON: Now, we're following breaking news this weekend out of Texas hill country. Governor Abbott held a news conference just in the last hour. Authorities are searching for more than two dozen people missing from a girls summer camp after flash floods that left at least 32 people dead. Authorities are being questioned over whether the camp had sufficient warning about the severe weather. The incident comes as the Trump administration is making deep cuts to weather forecasting services and openly discussing shifting more of the burden for disaster recovery from FEMA to state governments. How concerned are you in light of this? And we’re all praying for the families, but how concerned are you in light of this with the county’s readiness for extreme weather, right now, heading into the hurricane season?
JEFFRIES: Such a very shocking and sad tragedy. And our thoughts and prayers, of course, go out to all of the families of those who have been lost, of those who are still missing. And we also want to express our thanks and appreciation for the first responders who are right now in the midst of a search and rescue operation. I think we are going to have to figure out what happened, why did it happen, and how do we prevent this type of tragedy from ever happening again? And so the question of readiness is certainly something that congress should be able to explore in a bipartisan way, particularly as we head into a summer where we can expect intensifying extreme weather events hitting massive parts of the United States of America throughout July, August into the fall.
SHARPTON: Let me go to another issue. Florida's attorney general says that the first group of immigrants have arrived in the Everglades detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz.” President Trump visited there earlier this week. The Trump administration has embraced the idea of alligator guards as a joke. Those of us familiar with the history of the Jim Crow South know the idea of using black babies as alligator bait has a long, ugly history. The White House tries to claim its immigration policies aren't about race, but don't these stunts expose their motivations very clearly, or at least should raise their sensitivity?
JEFFRIES: Yeah, the last thing I would expect from this particular toxic administration at this point is sensitivity to any of the painful parts of our history. They've tried to erase our history, sanitize and whitewash our history. You know, the big problem with the Trump administration, we see all of these stunts that continue to take place, very toxic stunts, extreme stunts in many, in many cases. But what have they done to actually address the issues of importance to the American people, like lowering the high cost of living? This guy, Donald Trump, promised to lower the high cost of living, lower grocery costs on day one. Costs aren't going down. They're going up.
And by the way, as a result of this one big ugly bill, you're going to see utility bills start to skyrocket as a result of some of the things that have been done in this reckless Republican budget. And instead, they're focused on stunts like this “Alligator Alcatraz” situation.
By the way, Rev, what they should be doing, what they promised to do was to deport violent felons who are undocumented. Instead, in many cases, they're going after law-abiding immigrant families. We all want to secure the border, but what is taking place right now is not what I believe the American people signed up for last November.
SHARPTON: Now, I want to take us home for a minute. I'm in New Orleans at the Essence Festival, but I want to ask you about the Democratic nominee for New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani. Last weekend, you said you were still getting to know Mamdani and wanted him to clarify some of his positions on Israel and anti-Semitism. This week you defended Mamdani when the President attacked his Muslim faith and questioned his immigration status. Have you had any additional conversations with Mamdani in the past few days, and has your thinking on his candidacy evolved at all?
JEFFRIES: Yeah, I haven't had any opportunity to talk with him over the last few days based on the fact that so much has been going on in Washington, D.C as we – as House Democrats have been united in our fight to try to stop this extremism that Donald Trump and Republicans are jamming down the throats of the American people. Real painful stuff in terms of healthcare and nutritional assistance and beyond.
But we are in the process of getting a meeting in person, scheduled likely to take place in East New York or Brownsville, Canarsie, at which point we'll have the opportunity to discuss a whole host of issues, his vision for the future. I can share with him some of my thoughts about the district that I'm privileged to represent, and also talk about the importance of making sure that we're all on board with the need to take back control of the House of Representatives next November, so we can end this national nightmare in Washington, D.C., begin that process and actually try to bring out an America that is the best version of herself.
SHARPTON: Now, a quick follow up. New York City Mayor Eric Adams is attacking Mamdani over reports that he identified himself as African American and Asian on college application. Mamdani was born in Uganda, his parents from India. What are your thoughts on this issue? Mamdani has checked multiple boxes trying to capture what he calls the fullness of his background. I mean, is this a real issue to you?
JEFFRIES: I think to me, you know, the issue that we have to deal with in New York City, which our Democratic nominee did talk about extensively during the primary campaign, is affordability. And particularly in many of the neighborhoods that are being overwhelmed by gentrification and wiped out by housing displacement, that whoever is going to be the next mayor of the city of New York really needs to articulate a concrete plan for making sure that working-class communities, including working-class neighborhoods of color, can still have a place in our great city, the city that both of us love, but we know is changing significantly in terms of the opportunity for working families and middle class folks to be able to continue to call it home.
SHARPTON: Well, I want to thank you for coming on.