Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) faced an unlikely foe as he tried to plant the seeds of the Democrats’ narrative about the Schumer shutdown: CNN. Of all people, host Dana Bash blew up Jeffries's "GOP shut down the government’ line, which knocked the New York liberal off course in comical fashion.
Bash rightly noted that Democrats rejected 14 motions to reopen the government:
Hakeem Jeffries was left momentarily stunned on CNN after host Dana Bash fact-checked his claim in real time that Republicans “shut down” the government.
— Overton (@overton_news) November 5, 2025
The House Minority Leader wasn’t expecting the pushback and it showed.
He got heated.
JEFFRIES: “Donald Trump and… pic.twitter.com/DnSy3Gywmc
JEFFRIES: “Donald Trump and Republicans shut the government and refused to reopen it. Donald Trump has spent the last 35 days, more time on the golf course, more time talking to Hamas and more time talking to the Chinese Communist Party than to Democrats on Capitol Hill, who represent half the country.”
BASH: Mr. leader…you guys are voting ‘no’ on opening the government, not…not Republicans…
JEFFRIES: Hold on, hold on one second Dana, let’s just be clear about that. The American people clearly understand who’s responsible for shutting down the government.”
BASH: “Yeah, yeah. But you said ‘they’ shut down the government…”
Mr. Jeffries, everything you just said that Trump was doing falls within executive function. Also, heaven forbid he tries to end the Gaza War and get trade deals done with major partners. Second, don’t even bring up vacation since Joe Biden spent what seemed like 60 percent of his time at Rehoboth, and he was half dead.
The Republicans wanted a seven-week continuing resolution that funded the government at Biden-era levels, so Congress could get the rest of its appropriations bills done and address the expiring Obamacare subsidies. Democrats rejected it, opting to shut down the government over $1.5 trillion for illegal alien health care benefits and NPR funding.