The top House Democrat said Sunday he would refuse to work with President Donald Trump’s incoming chief of staff.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said there would be no opportunity to work with newly appointed White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller due to his “extremism,” he told Jonathan Karl, the host of ABC News’s “This Week.” Jeffries may become the next speaker of the House when Democrats officially take control of Congress in January, and he said he would not continue the same level of contact he had with Susie Wiles, who departed the top White House post Friday.
Karl began the exchange by referencing Jeffries’s Friday post to X calling for Miller to be fired.
“Stephen Miller is a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands,” Jeffries said in the post. “His presence in government should be eradicated like a malignant tumor.”
Stephen Miller is a dangerous xenophobe and reckless extremist who has American blood on his hands.
His presence in government should be eradicated like a malignant tumor.
Fire him today.
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) November 6, 2026
“It’s an awful choice,” Jeffries said. “Stephen Miller is the architect of Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation machine and has unleashed billions of taxpayer dollars to brutalize and kill American citizens, like Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, and, at the same period of time, to violently target law-abiding, immigrant families and communities all across the country.”
Trump announced Friday on Truth Social that Miller would replace Wiles, three days following Republicans’ brutal Tuesday loss of both the House and Senate to the Democrats. (RELATED: Democrats Offer First Glimpse Of What’s In Store For Trump Administration)
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents allegedly shot and killed Pretti, who was in possession of a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, in Minneapolis on Jan. 24. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent allegedly shot and killed Good after she “weaponized her vehicle” against agents Jan. 7.
“So, you know, it was an irresponsible decision in my view,” Jeffries told Karl. “There’s not going to be an opportunity, certainly, to work with Stephen Miller and what he represents. And we’re committed to forcefully pushing back against the extremism that they may try to continue to unleash on the American people. And we’ve got a firewall in the House and a firewall in the Senate thanks to the American people.”
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Karl then asked whether the communication Jeffries had with Wiles could carry over to her successor.
“It’s not going to happen with the new chief of staff to the extent that he lacks, because he clearly represents, along with Pete Hegseth and a few others, a really toxic brand of political engagement, of politics, and of governance,” Jeffries said. “And the American people just voted for that kind of MAGA extremism to be eradicated, which is why they’ve been defeated up and down the ballot all across the country, in the House, in the Senate, in governor’s races, in other statewide races, and, certainly, in state legislative bodies.”
Jeffries’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
The White House subsequently pushed back on Jeffries’s comments.
“If Democrats choose to not work with the Administration, they are choosing to work against the American people,” White House Spokeswoman Lauren Bis told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Stephen Miller has been a key player in delivering on President Trump’s America First agenda since day one. He has spearheaded the administration’s crime crackdown including in D.C. and Memphis, record setting deregulation, unleashed American energy, dismantled drug cartels, and secured our border.”
Jeffries also said he would support Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie’s planned resolution to impeach the secretary of war. “Pete Hegseth has got to go,” he told Karl.
(DCNF)