17
had given up and left. When New York City politicos
urged Jeffries to challenge Mayor Bill de Blasio’s run
for re-election, he said he seriously considered it—
and then Trump was elected. “There was no more
important time to be in the United States Congress,”
he says, adding that he felt a duty to defend against
Trump’s “existential threat” to democracy.
Now, as a public face of the House’s case against
the President, Jeffries is tasked with persuading at
least 20 Republican Senators the threat is strong
enough that they should join Senate Democrats
and vote to remove him from office. Given Trump’s
popularity with his base, few expect conviction. But
for Democrats, the point is the effort. And Jeffries
will be one of the few making it. “Someone who
can express what came out of the House hearings
coherently, succinctly, with passion and conviction,
is going to be very important going forward in terms
of the prosecution and impeachment,” said Joe
Crowley, the former New York Congressman who
preceded Jeffries as caucus chair before Ocasio-
Cortez ousted him in a primary challenge.
The role carries risks. Among the district
memorabilia in Jeffries’ office hangs a framed copy
of the First Step Act of 2018, signed into law by a
President who Jeffries compared to a leader of the
Ku Klux Klan. He says the highlight of his time in
the House hasn’t been his election as chairman, or
the moment that went viral when he nominated
Pelosi on the floor for Speaker with a rap reference.
It was working with top Hill Republicans and the
White House, including the President’s son-in-
law Jared Kushner, on passing the act, a package
of criminal-justice reforms that includes reducing
sentences for crack cocaine, and reducing
mandatory-minimum sentences. Kushner has
said he was sensitized to the issues while visiting
his father, who served a federal sentence for tax
evasion, witness tampering and violating campaign-
finance laws.
“To get things done in this town you need
a coalition of unusual suspects,” Jeffries says.
“There was a real partnership [with Kushner] that
produced real results.” Now, of course, it’s the
father-in-law who’s on trial, and this time Jeffries is
in the role of prosecutor. •
‘There was
no more
important
time to
be in the
United
States
Congress.’
REPRESENTATIVE
HAKEEM JEFFRIES,
on deciding not
to run for mayor
of New York City
JARED SOARES FOR TIME
