“We have to be clear, concise and compelling in what we communicate to the American people. And what I will say is… what I have continued to say is that the president has betrayed his oath of office. He's betrayed the American people. He's betrayed the United States Constitution. And until he presents some exculpatory evidence to the contrary, which appears to be non-existent because the more that we learn, the worse that it gets for Donald Trump, then we're going to continue to proceed with the seriousness and solemnity that is required in this particular instance.” -- Congressman Hakeem Jeffries

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ROB
Welcome to Disruption Now. I’m your host and moderator, Rob Richardson. We like to disrupt common narratives and constructs on this show. We're honored today to have Congressman Hakeem Jeffries from the 8th Congressional District in New York, a good friend of mine. I also want to say he is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, yo-yo! He's done a lot of great work. He's doing a lot of great work, really having a great impact. I just want to say it's an honor to have him on this show. -- Good to see you.

HAKEEM
Yeah. Good to see you.

ROB
So let's get right to it. This is a crazy time, crazy environment to be in politics. Why did you get into this arena of public service and put yourself and your family in this because this is a lot to put yourself through. What moves you every day to want to do this?

HAKEEM
Well I was born in Brooklyn Hospital, raised in central Brooklyn by two working-class parents. They did a phenomenal job in sacrificing to make sure that my younger brother, who is in Ohio as you know as well, teaching at Ohio State University in history department… He’s raising his family there. My parents want to make sure that my younger brother and I had the best shot at pursuing the American dream so did the Central Brooklyn community where we were raised --the Cornerstone Baptist Church.

After I graduated from law school, I knew that I wanted to use my law degree and the skills of training, the experience that I had, in some way, to give back to the communities where I had been raised and eventually decided that I wanted to do advocacy, in part as a public servant, as a member of state legislature. Ultimately, I was elected to the New York State Assembly, served a few terms there and then had the opportunity to come serve in Congress. It's been the highest privilege in my life. These are challenging times.

ROB
You know they are.

HAKEEM
My first four years in Congress, Barack Obama was president. We've obviously transitioned in a very different way. It's a very different individual.

HAKEEM
Yeah, I would say so.

ROB
That's a big change. And people back at home have said, “Well how do you go from Barack Obama to so-and-so who's sitting in the White House right now” and my view has been, “There was no better time to be in Congress than serving alongside Barack Obama but there's no more important time than right now dealing with what's coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with Donald Trump as president.”

ROB
Right. I want to talk more about that but let's talk about things you've accomplished because people can just assume that the only thing that's been done is that Democrats have been fighting with Trump. That's not true. You've actually got some things accomplished. Particularly, I want to talk about the First Step Act and the process of getting there.

I remember even some liberals criticizing people for working with Donald Trump to get this accomplished which is amazing to me. The First Step Act did pass and it mattered. There's real criminal justice reform. What do you think is the next step? That was obviously a good first step in criminal justice reform, and thousands of people out of jail is good. But I think we all know we have a broken criminal justice system. What's the next step?

HAKEEM
Well as you've indicated, we do have a very flawed and broken, dysfunctional criminal justice system. In 1971, when Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, there were less than 350,000 people, I believe, who were incarcerated at that time. Today, there's 2.2 million.

ROB
More than any place in the world.

HAKEEM
More than any other place in the world per capita including China and Russia combined.

ROB
Yep, hard to believe. Go ahead.

HAKEEM
Hard to believe. Disproportionate amount of those folks, as you know, Black and Latino, all from low-income communities of every race including poor white communities and a significant number of those individuals are nonviolent drug offenders.

ROB
Yeah.

HAKEEM
We came together in the last Congress and said, “We have to do something about over criminalization in America and the mass incarceration epidemic.” And we passed the First Step Act which was meaningful criminal justice reform as a down payment on breaking up this system. The question for us now is, “Where do we go from here?” I think the ultimate goal has to be--

Particularly at the federal level, some folks will say, “Well the majority of people are incarcerated at the state level.” That is true. A little less than 200,000 people incarcerated are at the federal level. Thousands of people have gotten out as a result of the First Step Act. We want to continue to bring that number down. But I think the federal government, because of the 1994 crime bill, has a responsibility to do more…

ROB
Agree.

HAKEEM
…because that 1994 crime bill where they allocated… I think it was $9 billion in money to the states…

ROB
Correct.

HAKEEM
…for prison construction…

ROB
To incentivize criminalization of people, essentially.

HAKEEM
…to incentivize the criminalization of people and did it in very specific ways in saying, “For you to get access to this money, we need to see truth in sentencing. Three-strikes-you're-out mandatory minimums.” So the acceleration of mass incarceration in America… Because at that time, I think there were about 900,000 people incarcerated in 1994 which has still dramatically increased, in part, as a result of the crime bill.
ROB
Yeah.

HAKEEM
So we have responsibility, I believe, to reverse engineer the damage that was done.

ROB
Completely agree.

HAKEEM
And that should be the objective as an end goal. And we can continue to take steps to move to that place as we travel along this journey.

ROB
We had Louis Reed from Cut50 on the show to talk about his experience. I know you worked with him on the First Step Act. He said an alarming statistic that even if they achieved their goal of cutting the prison population in half, which would be tremendous, we’d still have more people in prison than anywhere else in the world which is just incredible when you just think about that and step back.

Thoughts on how we incentivize prosecutors and others to think about how they fight crime and not necessarily measuring by the amount of convictions but how justice is served? And second question, “How do we humanize people in this process and not just paint people as, “Well they went to prison. They got what they deserved”? How do we humanize them through this process?

HAKEEM
Well taking the second question first, one of the things that was so important about working on the First Step Act is because it was bipartisan in nature. And if you're going to unravel the mass incarceration epidemic in America, the best way to do is to depoliticize the effort around criminal justice. And the best way to depoliticize the effort is to partner together. So you had the left and the right, Democrats and Republicans, progressives and conservatives, the ACLU and the Koch brothers, the NAACP and the Heritage Foundation, and all points in between, working together.

The lead Republican sponsor, Doug Collins, is a conservative Republican from rural Georgia, partnering with me as the lead Democrat, and I’m from what sometimes referred to as the “People's Republic of Brooklyn.” And we came together because it was an American problem that we're trying to solve on behalf of Americans, right -- people who may have made a mistake but have paid their debt to society.

Now we have a responsibility to make sure that they can successfully reenter society, transformed, in a way that reduces recidivism that's good for them, that's good for the community, that's good for their families. And by the way, it's good for the taxpayer if you can dramatically reduce recidivism because you can reallocate resources into other things to help everyday Americans.

We were successful in the humanization aspect and pulling together a broad coalition and we need to build upon that.

In terms of changing the mindset, talked about prosecutors who I think in many ways have been part of the problem…

ROB
I say they absolutely have been.

HAKEEM
…and have looked at convictions as the end goal, not justice as the end goal.

ROB
Correct. Just like when they see us, that doesn't need to happen in New York.

HAKEEM
That's correct.

ROB
That to me, “When They See Us” was an example of something that happens and that we, as Americans, have said, “This is what we accept because we think this is the way to keep people safe.” I think that just undermines justice.

HAKEEM
That's absolutely correct. And it tears at the social economic racial fabric of our society particularly because African-American communities tend to disproportionately suffer from an out-of-control criminal justice system. “When They See Us” was a classic example and a tragic example of that. I think there's a lot of literature now--

And many police departments then have been blessed with leaders who are trying to move those departments in a more progressive direction as well as the emergence of the progressive prosecutor phenomenon have begun to conclude that there's a difference between a “warrior mentality” and a “guardian mentality.”

The warrior mentality views the community as the enemy as if you are in a war. And there, you have the humanization take place.

The guardian mentality used the community as an asset to be protected and hugged and loved. And absent the humanization that exists with that type of approach that were there to be guardians of the community at the police level or beyond then you start to see people with different lens to understand the humanity that exists amongst everyone.

ROB
That actually makes sense. And getting people to understand that has been very difficult but we certainly have made progress, so I want to thank you for what you've done there.

Let us move a little forward. Can you think of a time when you actually failed in… It doesn’t have to be Congress. It can be in life… and what you learned from that because I think people see you now… They see a successful congressman who's… -- I think he's going to be Speaker of the House at one point. He's not going to say it but I’ll say it for him.

You've had success but I think people think this is instant. Talk about some struggles you had to get here, maybe one lesson that comes out in your mind, and what you learned from that to make you a better leader now.

HAKEEM
That’s a great question. I think that if you look at almost every field of human endeavor, the people who have reached the height of success across the board in almost every instance have experienced disappointment or what some may characterize as “professional failure.” But you don't ever really see that. You just see when they're able to achieve some measure of success.

ROB
Exactly.

HAKEEM
Now my journey, for instance, when I decided to make the transition from practicing attorney to candidate, hopefully public servant, was filled with disappointment as I started to make that transition.

I ran for the New York State Assembly twice against a very powerful incumbent in Central Brooklyn and lost twice. At certain point, I’m sure there were folks around who were saying, “Well maybe this public service thing ain't for you,” right?

ROB
Yeah. And it's hard losing. I’ve lost twice, too. It’s never a fun experience.

HAKEEM
Losing is not a fun experience though a lot of us have lost including, by the way, Barack Obama having lost his first congressional race and Bill Clinton having lost his first congressional race -- what you can learn from that. And they're widely regarded as two of the greatest political talents, perhaps, of the last 50 or so years in America, both of whom achieved success at the highest level in terms of becoming president and leader of the free world. They were both knocked down on the ground.

Winston Churchill once said that “In life, success is not final. Failure is not fatal. All that matters is the courage to continue.” I put it a different way: A “knocked down” is different than a “knocked out.” You might call that the “Hakeem Jeffries remake.”

ROB
All right, we’ll call it that.

HAKEEM
All right? And I’ve said almost everybody gets knocked down. I’ve been knocked down in a variety of ways including losing twice for an Assembly seat. But you have to learn from the knockdown. Have the perseverance and the wherewithal to pick yourself up as so many others have done including those whose shoulders we stand on. Our ancestors went through tremendous adversity but worked their way through it. We can as well. Pick yourself up, keep moving forward and ultimately, work toward achieving your dream.

You look at people who have achieved success at almost every level. Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan come to mind. There was adversity in their journeys.

ROB
Yeah, there's a lot of it.

HAKEEM
These are phenomenally-accomplished and talented individuals. If they can experience failure, any of us can experience failure and challenge. Learn from it, knock down being different than a knockout.

ROB
So impeachment, I want to talk a little bit about that. Speaking of challenging times, I want to talk a lot about that actually. We just had the top diplomat appointed by President Trump if I’m correct. Bill Taylor essentially testified that there was a quid pro quo or there was money going to Ukraine, that Ukraine would do what Trump wants in terms of investigating his political opponents which is clear to us that--

I think he's betraying our nation. I think he's a traitor by even doing that because it's advancing the interests of not America but it's advancing the interests of Russia. What case are we going to make to the American people that this is a clear and present threat to… It's not about politics. This is a clear and present threat to the principles of America. How do we make that case right now so they can make it clear that this is not about politics because I don't think it is.

HAKEEM
Absolutely right, it's not about politics. We didn't come to Congress to impeach the president. We came to Congress to get things done on behalf of everyday Americans and those we’re privileged to represent.

We have arrived at this place because of the president's own conduct. He betrayed his oath of office. He abused his power. He undermined our national security by pressuring a foreign government to target an American citizen for political gain and at the same time withhold, in an irresponsible fashion, $391 million in military and economic assistance to Ukraine to put them under duress as part of a high-pressure tactic to get them to effectively interfere in the 2020 election. That is textbook abuse of power. And the evidence of wrongdoing is hiding in plain sight.

ROB
He admitted it.

HAKEEM
He’s admitted it. We have a rough transcript of his own words and the call on July 25th--

ROB
The Chief of Staff said it. Mick Mulvaney said it.

HAKEEM
Mick Mulvaney has acknowledged. That was basically a confession.

ROB
It was.

HAKEEM
“We did it.” And he basically said, “Get over it.” No, we're not going to get over it. We're going to follow the facts, apply the law. We got to abide the Constitution and present the truth to the American people no matter where that leads us because… The House, as an institution, we're separate and co-equal branch of government. We don't work for Donald Trump. We work for the American people.

ROB
Correct.

HAKEEM
We don't work for any president, democrat or republican. That's what the founders wanted.

ROB
Yeah.
HAKEEM
Right? And we have a constitutional responsibility to serve as a check and balance on the out-of-control executive branch because the founders didn't want a king. They didn't want a monarch. They didn't want a dictator. They wanted a democracy.

ROB
Correct.

HAKEEM
So what we're doing is defending our democracy in the manner in which the framers intended. We've got to do our constitutional responsibility and we'll see what that leads us.

ROB
Let me ask one question and follow-up. I know you have to go through a process to get all the facts. But based upon what we have now, there is enough to impeach with what we already have with Russia. With what we have, clearly now, that's matched up with what every single witness has said, that there was a -- whatever you want to call -- quid pro quo. Don Corleone made him an offer he couldn't refuse -- whatever you want to call this. He was using his power to make sure they can go after a political opponent. Don't we have enough to impeach right now?

HAKEEM
Well it's a good question but we are going to respect the process that has been put in place by the speaker which is to allow chairmanship and the Intel committee in partnership with the Foreign Affairs committee and the Oversight committee. Rest in peace, Elijah Cummings. We’ll certainly will continue to draw inspiration from him.

ROB
Absolutely.

HAKEEM
Those three committees led by Adam Schiff and Intel committee are going to complete their investigation. And once they complete their investigation, they're going to make recommendations to the Judiciary committee as it relates to potential articles of impeachment.

I will say, as I’ve indicated, the evidence of wrongdoing is hiding in plain sight. The president needs to make the case, to the extent that he can, that this exculpatory evidence are information. But the timeline speaks for itself. Congress allocated $391 million in military and security aid to Ukraine because Ukraine is a friend; Russia is a foe.

ROB
Correct. And this is helping Russia's interests. Russia wants to take over Ukraine for their own interests against the United States.
HAKEEM
There's no doubt about it.

ROB
So let me ask this quick question. I think this is important for people to understand. I understand there's a process to impeachment so I think a more important question is framing the narrative because we know that Republicans today storm… They stormed a private deposition because they were willing to create a headline to make it seem like they're being locked out, right? They are willing to go to every extent to frame the narrative.

I like to call the people in that party right now “cowards and traitors.” It depends on which side. There are people that know that this is wrong and they won't speak up and there are those that are willingly going along with, I believe, was betraying our nation and putting our security at risk. Can we clearly state that this seems to be--

It seems like we have someone who is betraying our nation, who is a traitor, based upon what we know right now. We haven't gone through the process but… This is in no one's interest but Russia, to me. I can't see how this helps America whether you're democrat, moderate.
Can we say that he's betraying our nation, he is a traitor, because I do think there needs to be some thought about the narrative. I think the facts are on our side. What concerns me is the narrative. That makes sense?

ROB
That makes sense, absolutely. And we have to be clear, concise and compelling in what we communicate to the American people. And what I will say is… what I have continued to say is that the president has betrayed his oath of office. He has betrayed the American people. He has betrayed the United States Constitution. And until he presents some exculpatory evidence to the contrary, which appears to be non-existent because the more that we learn, the worse that it gets for Donald Trump, then we're going to continue to proceed with the seriousness and solemnity that is required in this particular instance.

The president effectively turned the Oval Office into the Trump 2020 re-election campaign headquarters. What his behavior has shown is that he's willing to do anything to elevate his own personal political interests and subordinate our national security interest.

ROB
Yeah.

HAKEEM
Right? As you’ve pointed out, Ukraine is a democracy; Russia is a dictatorship. Ukraine is currently under invasion by Russian-backed separatists in Crimea. The United States is probably the only thing standing between Vladimir Putin and Ukraine being completely overrun. And in that context, Donald Trump withheld the $391 million in aid that was allocated in a bipartisan way.

ROB
Yeah.

HAKEEM
Mitch McConnell tried to get an answer as to where this money was, twice during the summer, and even he couldn't get an answer. Why -- because there is no good one. Donald Trump was doing this to try to target someone who he viewed as a political threat, undermining the very fabric of our democracy.

ROB
So explain that to people in a way that is clear. And they have, unfortunately, been successful in getting people to accept some level of corruption. I think they say, “This is politics. There's always some quid pro quo. People are doing this because this is what politicians do.” -- At least, he's being honest about it. -- That's what people are saying.

I don't agree with this. It's like, “Well if he honestly took money from me and told me that he did it, is that okay? We just let him commit the crime?” That doesn't matter to me but I believe democrats, democrats in the House, need to really understand that--

I don't think the corruption argument is going to work. I think we have to really get to the fact that, what you're beginning to say, that he is betraying our nation and making them understand that this is not about politics.

If he can target… It's Joe Biden right now. But in the future, maybe it’s you. Or maybe he doesn't step down because when there's no rule of law, he can do anything. He can do anything and people need to know that. What's at stake is the very idea of America.

HAKEEM
That's correct. And you have hundreds of national security professionals who worked in both the Republican and Democratic administrations who have said, “The impeachment inquiry is justified” -- this was early on -- “and the information here is disturbing in the context of the abuse of power the president engaged in and the undermining of our national security.”

And we've been very clear that when there's a president engaging in out-of-control behavior, willing to undermine the safety, security and well-being of the American people, then the entire Republic is at risk for falling apart.

ROB
Does that make him a traitor? Isn't that fair? I mean I only say that because Joe Walsh… I say this because I think language is important. And I wouldn't come to this conclusion now… I mean at the beginning but now, I think after a clear pattern of Russia, the Mueller investigation… I’ve read most of that boring report but it was very disturbing.

And this is a clear pattern that this is trying to advance the interests of Russia. Whether it's intentional or not for Trump, it is advancing Russia's interests. And this is, as you say, betraying our nation. And that seems pretty close to being a traitor like Joe Walsh said who… Is there a reason you think why Democrats are hesitant to say that about Trump?

HAKEEM
Well I haven't followed Joe Walsh closely in terms of his perspective.

ROB
Well he said that. I just think… Go ahead.

HAKEEM
Listen. I think that we shouldn't get caught up in throwing rhetorical firebombs at the President of the United States of America when we're in the midst of an investigation that needs to be serious and solemn.

ROB
Sure.

HAKEEM
And all we have to do is present the truth to the American people. The story speaks for itself. The evidence of wrongdoing is hiding in plain sight. The American people are smart enough to draw their own conclusions, though we can frame our perspective. And as we've said, this is about betrayal. This is about abuse of power. This is about national security. This is about the integrity of our elections. And fundamentally, this is about the United States Constitution.

ROB
I agree. It’s about the United States Constitution and undermining the rule of law. I think we got to hammer that over and over and over again. It is a serious investigation. Let's say, if you get to that point and you get past that, I guess that's the next step because it's… What we know is they are--

It's sunny right now in DC but in Trump world, it's raining. And people will believe that because it will be fed to them over and over and over and over again.

The only thing I have to say… and this is not to you because you haven’t been out there. But I think I share a general frustration that you'll hear out of many. We need to speak with as much conviction on the truth as they do for absolute made-up lies. And I think doing that will make sure the people… because the American people are not going to be able to understand enough. Not that they’re not smart. It's just that no one has time to look through the 15-page report of Bill Taylor's testimony. If they look through it, it's really clear, right?

HAKEEM
Yeah.

ROB
If you take the time, there's no doubt in my mind that he laid out the case that this is a clear and present threat to the United States of America -- the person in this office. That's what's going on.

HAKEEM
And notwithstanding the fact that you have somebody like Bill Taylor, 50-plus year career--

ROB
Because it’s republican appointed by him.

HAKEEM
Right. An appointee of the Trump administration and a previous Republican appointee, someone who was a West Point graduate, someone who was a Vietnam War veteran, and yet you have Republican members of House of Representatives, who are part of what I refer to as the “cover-up caucus,” running around Capitol Hill, behaving like fools in order to tap-dance for the puppet master at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It tells you what you need to know about the shenanigans on the other side of the aisle.

Our view is we're not going to get into the theatrics because we have a responsibility, really, just to follow the facts as they exist. That's disturbing enough.

ROB
Yes.

HAKEEM
Apply the law. Be guided by the Constitution. Speak truth to power and bring the truth to the American people.

ROB
Look, I agree. And I am hopeful based upon the American people but I’m also understanding that who you're up against, in terms of their ability to distract, their ability to divide, should not be underestimated. I just think that's really important to keep in mind.

When Bill Taylor had the testimony the other day, he brought up like, “Oh this is a lynching.” He wanted to say some outrageous statement to get the focus on his crazy statement so the focus is not on Bill Taylor. I tell people, “If you want to know about lynching, go watch Harriet Tubman. If you want to know what's going on right now with Trump, just pay attention to what's going on in Congress. He's trying to cover up for the fact that he is betraying this nation.” I just think we got to be vigilant because eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

HAKEEM
I think that's correct. And I think that what you saw on the Democratic side is that members were appropriately critical of the comparison because the lynching epidemic in this country is a stain on our society with thousands of innocent lives, mostly African-American were targeted because of the color of their skin, trying to bring to life, just the promise of citizenship embedded in the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution and were killed as a result of it. Lives ruined. Communities ruined. Families ruined. And to make that comparison, obviously, it's historically ignorant. It fans the flames of race-baiting that the president has been good at. And we were appropriately critical but we also, at the same time, made sure to point out this is designed as a distraction.

ROB
You guys did a great job. The media followed him though, right? This is what he does. He knows what he's doing and his goal was to get the media… They went back to what they needed to but… That is our goal and we have to keep, as you say, reminding people and framing the narrative, too.

Final two questions and then I’ll let you go, kind of a couple of legacy questions. You have a committee of three people who can advise you. They’re living or dead. Who are those three people know why?

HAKEEM
Also a fascinating statement. Well I’d say A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. who was the first Chief Justice of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, an African-American and a prominent civil rights mind. Many people thought that had Bill Clinton been president when Thurgood Marshall passed away and been able to make that appointment, that A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. would have been the person to fill that vacancy. He was that powerful. So I’d suggest him. He's passed away. Certainly, I’ll say my grandmother, Nana.

ROB
Okay. Why Nana?

HAKEEM
Well she had that old-fashioned wisdom. She was a woman of limited means but wise beyond her years.

ROB
Well give me one of her lines you remember from her.

HAKEEM
Well when my younger brother and I were growing up, she would always tell us the story of Cain and Abel so much so that I don't think my brother and I ever got into a physical altercation and it was because she had drilled into us the consequences of doing--

ROB
Wait. You had never fought.

HAKEEM
Never got into a physical altercation.

ROB
Wait. Are we defining as like you guys never rat each other and wrestled or--

HAKEEM
That is correct.

ROB
Wow. That’s amazing.

HAKEEM
Never got violent with each other.

ROB
Okay.

HAKEEM
Now it's possible in the basketball court, there may have been push and shove. I mean that one is.

ROB
[Laughter] Oh there it comes.

HAKEEM
But in part, it was because of how drilling into us that Cain and Abel story.

ROB
Right.

HAKEEM
The other thing she did that was fascinating is that every time my brother and I, when I was growing up, she would say, “You and your brother, you're going to graduate from elementary school, you’re going to graduate from middle school then you're going to graduate from high school then you're going to go to college. And then after you go to college, you're going to graduate from either law school or business school, go get a PhD.” I said, “Grandma, we're going to be in school our entire lives.” But she drilled into us, from her perspective, the sense that “For you and your brother, Hassan, to succeed, you're going to have to get an education and go above and beyond” what might otherwise be expected of someone coming out of central Brooklyn.

ROB
Where it’s twice as hard to get half as much.

HAKEEM
That’s right. And though she was a woman of limited means, recognizing that every time we graduated, starting in elementary school, she would give us $500 in cash.

ROB
Oh wow. That’s a motivator.

HAKEEM
Right? Now that was serious motivation, by the way. Now I made the mistake of telling that story in front of my two young sons. They said, “Dad, you've been shortchanging us all these years.”

ROB
Oh yeah, they want their money now.

HAKEEM
Right. But that was part of Nana’s wisdom as it relates to motivating her two grandsons to achieve as much success as they could achieve. Pulled out the wisdom I can share but certainly--

ROB
That's a good one. What's the third?

HAKEEM
I say probably the third person would be someone who I served with here and that's John Lewis who is not just sort of the conscience of the Congress in many ways but the conscience of the country.

We think about John Lewis's life story and how at such a young age, he stood up for what was right, sacrificed, almost lost his life. What continues to believe in the promise of America is phenomenal. It has been an honor to be able to serve with him for my six and a half plus years in Congress.

ROB
Final question: You have a billboard -- or we can make it a Google ad, just to be a little more modern -- that summarizes your belief. It could be a statement. It could be a saying. What does that say and why?

HAKEEM
Well I think I would simply say, “For Us” at the end of the day, that everything that I’ve tried to do as a public servant -- That's just five *words [letters - 33:44], “For Us” -- has really been for the communities that I’m privileged to serve. And that's just a blessing of being able to work on people's behalf when you come to work, when your vocation is to try to make life better for everyday Americans -- for the least, the loss, the left behind, for the communities that send you to Washington to make life better or to stand up for them. What we certainly on the House Democratic side come to do, we've said, “Our agenda is for the people.”

Back at home, I’d say, it would be “For us” -- the district that I represent, the 8th, people in Brooklyn, people in Queens of every single race, different genders, sexual orientations, religious backgrounds. I have an incredibly diverse district. I’m just trying to do all that I can to justify the confidence that they've placed in me.

ROB
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, I appreciate you, brother.

HAKEEM
Thanks a lot.

ROB
Yeah.

[END OF TRANSCRIPT]