Jeffries defends Democratic Caucus tweet slamming Ocasio-Cortez chief of staff

[DonViejo]

BY SCOTT WONG - 07/16/19 12:38 PM EDT

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jefffries on Tuesday stood by the tweet his leadership office sent calling out freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff for his Twitter attacks on a moderate freshman Democrat.

“The tweet speaks for itself,” Jeffries, a New York Democrat like Ocasio-Cortez, told reporters after a closed-door meeting of House Democrats, declining to elaborate on whether he personally sanctioned and supports the tweet.

Several Democratic lawmakers have privately told The Hill that Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, should be fired for tweeting that votes from freshman Rep. Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), a gay, Native American mixed-martial arts fighter, “enable a racist system” and that the large bloc of moderate Democrats are modern-day segregationists because they backed a Senate border-aid bill.

But Jeffries, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, declined to say whether he believed that Chakrabarti should be ousted, saying that is Ocasio-Cortez's or "AOC's" decision.

“That’s a personnel matter that I’ll leave for her to resolve,” said Jeffries, the No. 5 House Democrat in leadership. “I have great respect for every single member of the House Democratic Caucus, from AOC to [moderate Rep.] Josh Gottheimer and everyone in between.”

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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/453308-jeffries-defends-democratic-caucus-tweet-slamming-ocasio-cortez-chief-of-staff