House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY, rebuked President Donald Trump on Sunday and said he should keep his “reckless mouth shut” after the president called Democrats the “greatest enemy” in America.
“Now with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Democratic Party! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
CNN’s Dana Bash asked Jeffries to react to the statement during Sunday’s “State of the Union.”
“Donald Trump should keep his reckless mouth shut before he gets somebody killed,” Jeffries said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) speaks during his weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 19, 2026. President Donald Trump takes questions from the media alongside Taoiseach of Ireland Micheál Martin (L) during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on March 17, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Jeffries also spoke to Bash about the war in Iran, which he described as a “reckless war of choice.”
“They clearly didn’t anticipate some of the things that have happened, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. What you’re seeing right now are gas prices are through the roof, and that’s adding to an environment in America right now where life has already become too expensive for the American people because of failed policies by Donald Trump,” he said.
Jeffries did not say whether he would support any more funding for the Pentagon or whether he would urge Democrats to vote “no.”
Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Thursday, March 19, 2026. (Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Well, we’ll have that leadership conversation when we actually have a piece of legislation that is in front of us. But I can tell you, uh, there is strong opposition right now to the notion that this war of choice — that is reckless, that’s costing the American people now more than $30 billion — should continue. We need to move, which we plan on doing in short order, a War Powers Resolution so we can bring this situation to a close,” he said.
Jeffries previously predicted the war would result in “failure” for the U.S.
“The American people want us to focus on making their life better and making their life more affordable; not getting involved in another endless war in the Middle East that is going to end in failure. This administration somehow found the resources, has found billions of dollars for bombs but can’t find any money to actually bring down the high cost of living here in the United States of America,” Jeffries said.
