House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) slammed President Trump for a sharing a video Monday that used artificial intelligence (AI) to alter Democratic leaders’ comments ahead of a looming government shutdown.
“This is all designed to be a malignant distraction from people who are determined to continue to rip healthcare away from the American people and Democrats are resolved to stand up for it,” Jeffries told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell in an interview. “They are lying about what we’re asking to do.”
“We’ve made clear that federal law currently prohibits undocumented immigrants from receiving comprehensive health care paid for by federal American tax dollars,” he continued. “And no one is asking to change that law, but what we are doing is making it clear that we need to protect the health care of the American people, which has been under relentless assault by the Republicans throughout this year.”
The AI video features Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). A sombrero and mustache are superimposed on the House Democratic leader as Latin-inspired music plays in the background.
“Look, guys, there’s no way to sugarcoat it. Nobody likes Democrats anymore. We have no voters left because of all of our woke trans bulls—,” Schumer is made to say in the altered video. “Not even Black people want to vote for us anymore. Even Latinos hate us.”
“So, we need new voters, and if we give all these illegal aliens free health care, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us,” the video shows the senator saying.
Trump’s post came amid heated tensions between Republicans and Democrats ahead of a lapse in government funding. On Monday, Congressional leaders ended a meeting with Trump saying they were unable to make progress in negotiations that could have averted a shutdown.
“If you think your shutdown is a joke, it just proves what we all know: You can’t negotiate,” Schumer responded to the AI video in a post on social platform X. “You can only throw tantrums.”
