New Dem leader tries to attack Republicans over election-denying — but inadvertently condemns himself instead

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), the newly elected leader of House Democrats, was confronted Sunday over his history of questioning the legitimacy of election outcomes.

During an interview on ABC News' "This Week," host George Stephanopoulos asked Jeffries about criticism from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who last week condemned Jeffries as a "past election denier." Jeffries, in fact, both openly questioned the legitimacy of Donald Trump's presidency and has claimed the Supreme Court has "zero legitimacy."

"It's unfortunate that Republicans have chosen to focus on me. House Democrats are going to focus on solving problems for the American people," Jeffries said at first.

But Stephanopoulos pushed the issue.

"But you did say that history will never accept Donald Trump as legitimate president," he pressed. "What is your response?"

Instead of offering up humble contrition, Jeffries attacked Republicans while completely ignoring the fact that his own rhetoric proves he is guilty of the exact behavior that he was condemning.

"Here's the Republican playbook: Facts don't matter; hypocrisy is not a constraint to their behavior. And in many cases, they believe shamelessness is a superpower," he claimed, before excusing his election-denying past.

"My view of the situation has been pretty clear. I supported the certification of Donald Trump's election. I attended his inauguration even though there were many constituents and others across the country pushing me and others to do otherwise, and found ways to work with the Trump administration being the lead Democrat in negotiating historic criminal justice reform," he added.

After defending himself, Jeffries seemingly justified his election-denying rhetoric.

"I will never hesitate in criticizing the former president," he declared.

Republicans have to ‘work out their issues’ with Donald Trump: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries l This Weekwww.youtube.com

It is not clear how Jeffries' rhetoric is any different from Republican claims that Joe Biden is not the legitimate president because of irregularities in the 2020 election.

In both cases, Trump and Biden were lawfully elected, and the certification of election results was not subverted. Questioning the legitimacy of either election, therefore, is the same and cannot be distinguished or justified.

Ironically, if Republicans' alleged election-denying is evidence of hypocrisy and that "facts don't matter" to them, does that also make Jeffries a hypocrite who ignores facts? Shamelessness is a superpower indeed.