Mamdani voices support for Jeffries amid Kushner meeting blowback
The Hill · C · trust 50/100
Comments: by Ryan Mancini - 08/24/26 6:26 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Ryan Mancini - 08/24/26 6:26 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) on Monday voiced his support for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) after the congressman received blowback for meeting with Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law.
A reporter asked Mamdani if he supported Jeffries were he to become Speaker if Democrats reclaim the House following the fall midterm elections.
“I continue to support Congressman Jeffries and his bid to become the leader,” Mamdani said.
Jeffries, who represents parts of Brooklyn, had declined to weigh in on the city’s mayoral race last year when Mamdani faced off against former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who ran as a Democrat in the primary and as an independent in the general election. Jeffries endorsed Mamdani hours before New York’s early voting started and weeks before the election.
The New York Times reported Sunday that Kushner and Jeffries recently met in New York City to talk about areas of common ground — such as housing, immigration and the cost of living — as potential areas of collaboration between the Trump administration and a Democratic-led House.
Kushner, married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, has served as a foreign envoy for the White House. He has focused on the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as failed peace talks with Iranian officials.
Kushner told Jeffries he should meet with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, two people with knowledge of the meeting told the Times.
Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) told NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” that Kushner and Jeffries “are trying to come up with compromises.”
“Congratulate them for that. It seems like they can’t win for losing,” she told host Chris Stirewalt. “If they talk to Democrats, they get criticized. If they don’t talk to Democrats, they get criticized.”
Jeffries has long been at odds with the White House and the president, having called the Medicaid cuts resulting from the GOP-backed One Big Beautiful Bill “ devastating ,” the Iran conflict “ Operation Epic Failure ” and Republicans “ phonies ” for adding to the national debt — which surpassed $40 trillion this week.
Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed support for the meeting.
“I’m in favor of people meeting with whoever they want to discuss ideas,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “But it’s one thing to have a meeting. It’s another thing to see something real come out of that.”
Tommy Vietor, who was once an aide to former President Obama and is now one of the co-hosts of the “Pod Save America” podcast, wrote on social media that Kushner “has no actual government job.”
Vietor added that Kushner “just uses his family connections to get money from gulf autocrats and fund corrupt deals. The only way @RepJeffries should work with him is with demands for documents and subpoenas.”
During an appearance on Fox News’s “The Sunday Briefing,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told host Peter Doocy that he does not “ know what that’s about .”
“I know Jared has interest in lots of other things going on,” Johnson said Sunday. “He’s not really directly involved in the admin, at least in the day-to-day in the White House.”
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