McConnell takes swipe at Jeffries, calls new Dem leader ‘election denier’ who made ‘attacks’ on judiciary

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., threw some verbal jabs at new House Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., calling him an “election denier” who has gone after members of the judiciary in a “reckless” manner.

In remarks delivered on the Senate floor Thursday morning, McConnell claimed that Democrats like to talk about the importance of norms but have “not hesitated to undermine our institutions when they are unhappy with a given outcome.”

“Just for example,” McConnell said, “the newly-elected leader of House Democrats, a past election denier basically said the 2016 election was, quote, ‘illegitimate,’ and suggested that we had a quote ‘fake president.’ He’s also mounted reckless attacks on our independent judiciary and said that justices he didn’t like had, quote, ‘zero legitimacy.’”

McConnell went on to claim that with such statements, Jeffries is “not an outlier” in his party but “a representative example.” 

HAKEEM JEFFRIES ELECTED TO REPLACE NANCY PELOSI AS HOUSE DEMOCRAT LEADER IN NEXT CONGRESS

WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 30: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) (C) talks to reporters with Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) (L) and Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) after they were elected to House Democratic leadership for the 118th Congress at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on November 30, 2022 in Washington, DC. Jeffries was elected to succeed Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as leader of the Democrats in the chamber next year, making him the first Black person to lead one of the two major parties in either chamber of Congress. Clark was elected whip and Aguilar was elected caucus chair for the 118th Congress. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Fox News reached out to Jeffries’ office for comment, but they did not respond in time for publication.

The GOP also cited other prominent Democrats who have gone after the Supreme Court, such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,  who “threatened sitting justices by name over on the Supreme Court steps.”

McConnell also said that President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland “refuse[d] to enforce federal law and put a stop to illegal harassment campaigns at the homes of the justices.”

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, leaves a news conference following the weekly Republican caucus luncheon at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022. The Senate voted Tuesday to advance a stop-gap funding bill to keep the government running after a bid to include a controversial energy permitting bill was dropped. Photographer: Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images 
(Bloomberg)

 This was a reference to protesters who demonstrated outside the homes of conservative justices prior to the issuance of the decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, but after a draft opinion revealed the possibility that the Court would overturn Roe v. Wade, which it ultimately did.

The Senate Republican leader also accused Democrats of targeting “judges whose legal reasoning they don’t like,” specifically Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the Dobbs opinion.

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Jeffries was chosen by colleagues on Wednesday to take the place of current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the head of the Democrats in the House of Representatives. Following the election, he said he was “eternally grateful for the trust my colleagues placed in me with their votes.”