By The American Tribune | Created at 2026-06-18 10:16:54 | Updated at 2026-06-18 12:38:02
2 hours ago
Things got super uncomfortable for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries when he found himself repeatedly and awkwardly on the defensive during a very tense and entertaining exchange that came in the midst of an interview he did with Fox 5 New York. He tried to claim that President Trump has been an inflationary disaster, and the hosts called him out on his lies.
Specifically, the notoriously woke and seemingly inept House Minority Leader appeared on Good Day New York in an attempt to speak out about what he claimed were inflationary concerns, particularly regarding gasoline and grocery prices, that had been caused by President Donald Trump’s foreign policy and the ongoing situation involving Iran, one that appears to be drawing to a close.
Doing so during the awkward interview, Rep. Jeffries insisted that President Trump had launched what he described as a “reckless war of choice” against Iran, and that the war was a problem for the American people because the disruptions to trade that came from it had made everyday necessities much more expensive. “The cost of living is way too high, America’s far too expensive…” he said.
Longtime show host Rosanna Scotto wasn’t having it. Firing back, Scotto told Jeffries that the present gas prices were around the same level they presently are under Obama, and were even worse under Biden. She began, “All right, listen, the gas prices were this high under Obama, too.” Then, as Jeffries tried to interrupt, she said, “And Biden, right? President Biden, didn’t we have gas prices at over $5?”
Responding in an utterly bizarre and nonsensical fashion, Jeffries insisted that the “pandemic situation” was responsible for gas prices, ignoring that prices generally fell during the pandemic because fewer people were travelling. “No, well, they were gas prices in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic situation,” he told her, evidently quite flustered.
Scotto wasn’t having it. Snapping back again, the Fox 5 host noted that grocery prices were quite high under Biden, and indeed not only generally haven’t seen all that much inflation under President Trump, but in some cases have fallen substantially. “And I remember eggs were like $12 a dozen,” Scotto told a flustered and frustrated Jeffries.
The angry representative didn’t have a good response prepared to that, and so Scotto kept rolling, noting that New York would be celebrating the New York Knicks celebration and the Biden disaster was, fortunately, in the past. She said, “But listen, that’s in the past. We’re moving forward. We got a big Knicks celebration happening on Thursday!”
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Watch the exchange here:
Jeffries has now repeatedly tried to use the war with Iran to attack Trump. In a recent speech, for example, he said, “To begin with, let me clarify the Democratic position on the economy. One, the affordability crisis is very real. It’s not a hoax. Two, House Democrats care about the personal finances of the American people. Three, Democrats do not love the inflation. In fact, we’re fighting hard to address the broken economy that Donald Trump has visited on the American people. Donald Trump and Republicans promised to lower the high cost of living on day one, but costs in the United States of America haven’t gone down.”
He added, “Costs have gone up. Housing costs out of control. Grocery costs out control. Gas prices out of control. Healthcare premiums and insurance out of control. And child care and utility bills and everyday goods out of control. America’s far too expensive. The affordability crisis is not a hoax. House Democrats care about the personal finances of the American people. We’re committed to driving down the high cost of living. And we do not, under any circumstances, love the inflation that Donald Trump and Republicans have visited on the American people.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
