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The top Democrat in the House of Representatives attacked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a slew of insults on Friday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused Republican officials of unjustly going after Democrats amid a controversy over a swastika flag found in a House GOP lawmaker’s office this week, though the lawmaker denied he or his staff played any role. Jeffries made the comments during a press conference with reporters on day 17 of the ongoing government shutdown.
“You’ve got Karoline Leavitt, who’s sick. She’s out of control. And I’m not sure whether she’s just demented, ignorant, a stone-cold liar, or all of the above,” Jeffries said.
“But the notion that an official White House spokesperson would say that the Democratic Party consists of terrorists, violent criminals, and undocumented immigrants makes no sense, that this is what the American people are getting from the Trump administration in the middle of a shutdown.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for a response.
Jeffries had been asked about the swastika, which was reportedly embedded into a small American flag that was hanging on a cork board in the office of Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Ohio. It was first reported by a local Ohio social media reporter who goes by the X handle “The Rooster.”
Taylor said in a statement to Fox News that several offices were targeted with the flag, which he said was the work of an “unidentified group” in a coordinated opposition campaign.
“New details have emerged from a coordinated investigation into the vile symbol that appeared in my office. Numerous Republican offices have confirmed that they were targeted by an unidentified group or individual who distributed American flags bearing a similar symbol, which were initially indistinguishable from an ordinary American flag to the naked eye,” Taylor said.
“After a full-scale internal investigation, I am confident that no employee of this office would knowingly display such a despicable image, and the flag in question was taken down immediately upon the discovery of the obscured symbol it bore.”
It’s not immediately clear why the events made Jeffries invoke Leavitt specifically, however.
Tensions have run high on both sides as the shutdown drags on, and the standoff shows no signs of slowing down.
In fact, it’s expected to roll into its fourth week after Senate Democrats blocked the GOP’s federal funding measure for a fourth time on Thursday before leaving Washington for the weekend.
Republicans put forward last month a seven-week extension of fiscal year (FY) 2025 funding levels, called a continuing resolution (CR), aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a long-term deal for FY2026.
But Democrats in the House and Senate were infuriated by being sidelined in those talks. The majority of Democrats are refusing to accept any deal that does not include serious healthcare concessions, at least extending COVID-19 pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.
Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
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