House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries delivered a scathing rebuke of Donald Trump on Monday, dismissing the president’s ultimatum to Vladimir Putin as too little, too late, and accusing him of spending the first six months of his presidency “playing footsie” with the Russian leader.
At a Capitol Hill press conference, Jeffries told The Pavlovic Today that Trump’s newly announced 50-day deadline for Russia to end its war in Ukraine — or face 100% secondary tariffs — lacked all credibility.
“Is he just now figuring out that Ukraine is a friend to the United States of America and Russia is an enemy?” Jeffries asked.
The remarks came just hours after Trump made a “major” announcement at the meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained what Trump means by secondary tariffs, describing them as a form of economic deterrent rather than traditional sanctions.
“So it’s economic sanction, not a sanction,” Lutnick explained to reporters in the State Dining Room. “You can do tariffs, or you can do sanctions, those are both tools in his toolbox.”
How does Hakeem Jeffries see the ultimatum playing out, and what is the position among House Democrats on the latest foreign policy development?
The leader of House Democrats dismissed suggestions that Trump’s latest move signals a tougher stance on Moscow. “Vladimir Putin has spent an entire year punking Donald Trump and the Trump administration,” said Jeffries.
“Donald Trump promised many things to the American people, and continues to betray the American people and break promise after promise after promise in a whole lot of areas, including Donald Trump’s promise that there would be peace in Ukraine on day one of his presidency. How is that working out?”
Jeffries continued, determined to reject the notion that Trump is taking a meaningful stand against the Kremlin.
“Donald Trump has spent the first six months of his presidency playing footsie with Vladimir Putin, and the response from Vladimir Putin, a sworn enemy of the United States of America, has been to unleash terror on Ukrainian children, communities and civilians,” he said. “Donald Trump has zero credibility in this area,” added Jeffries.
“Is he just now figuring out that the United States should always stand on the side of democracy, freedom and truth, which is standing with Ukraine, as opposed to standing on the side of authoritarianism, tyranny and propaganda, which is what he’s been doing by standing with Russia and Vladimir Putin. Is he just now figuring this out?”
Signaling that Democrats will not defer to the White House on foreign policy, Hakeem Jeffries called on Congress to take the lead on Russia, regardless of Trump’s position.
“Congress has to act independently in this area, and we should sanction Russia and continue to keep the pressure on Vladimir Putin and Russia, a sworn enemy of this country, until the Ukrainian people are able to achieve victory for themselves, our NATO allies in Europe and the free world,” he said.
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