Exclusive: Hakeem Jeffries responds to Trump’s threat to prosecute him: ‘We’re winning’

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) had a simple message Thursday in response to President Donald Trump’s threat to prosecute him. 

“Every time Donald Trump wakes up or posts in the middle of the night attacking me, it’s clear we’re getting to him because we’re winning,” Jeffries told Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias in a forthcoming podcast interview. 

On Thursday morning, Jeffries became the latest Trump political opponent to be threatened with prosecution. In a brazen Truth Social post, the president called for the Democratic Leader to be charged with “INCITING VIOLENCE,” writing, “The Radical Left Democrats actually want to Destroy our Country.”

Below the message, Trump posted a picture of Jeffries standing next to a sign in which he pledged “maximum warfare” against the GOP in the redistricting battle. Trump also posted an image from the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, falsely implying Jeffries’ rhetoric had caused the shooting.

In fact, the “maximum warfare” line was first used by the White House to describe its own redistricting strategy. 

Trump has already had bogus and corrupt prosecutions brought against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D). And his administration has launched probes against several other prominent Trump opponents. On Wednesday, his FBI raided the office of state Sen. Louise Lucas, the leader of the state’s redistricting effort aimed at countering GOP gerrymanders.

In the interview with Democracy Docket, Jeffries said Republicans are angry that Democrats haven’t backed down on redistricting. 

“They’re very upset that Democrats made clear from the very beginning when Donald Trump launched this mid-decade gerrymandering scheme that we were going to fight back,” he said. “We were not going to step back, and we were going to respond aggressively all over the country.”

Jeffries pointed to some examples across the country. So far, Democrats are expected to net 5 additional seats in California after the victory on Prop. 50. They won a seat in Utah via the courts, and, said Jeffries, “pushed [Republicans] back in places like Ohio and Indiana and New Hampshire and Kansas and Nebraska.”

The Democratic Leader also touted the successful referendum in Virginia, which is currently blocked by the courts. 

As Republicans move forward with a new map in Florida, which could net Republicans four additional seats, Jeffries assured Elias that Democrats will aggressively push back in the Sunshine State. 

“The Republicans clearly thought that we were going to unilaterally disarm in the face of their effort to steal the midterm elections,” Leader Jeffries said. “And they’ve learned otherwise.”