Over the last few days, tensions have been on the rise, with both Democrats and Republicans ambushing each other over the government shutdown.
For instance, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was caught off guard when Sens. Reuben Gallego (D-AZ) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) set up shop outside of his office.
The nasty confrontation, however, took place between Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Mike Lawler (R-NY), as they were nose-to-nose, with Lawler absolutely embarrassing the House minority leader.
Democrats went after Johnson for not swearing in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) while the government is shut down.
Johnson explained, “Rep.-elect Grijalva has not yet had a scheduled date, because she was elected after the House was out of session.”
Gallego then insinuated that Johnson was delaying her swearing in because once she takes her seat, she will be the 218th signature on the Epstein discharge petition, which would force a vote on the floor, and it is likely to pass.
Johnson shot back, "That's totally absurd. You guys are experts at red herrings and distractions. It has nothing to do with Epstein. You just keep coming up with excuses.” Johnson continued to explain that a bipartisan committee is working on this issue right now, and he added that the documents will be released as soon as that committee finishes its work.
I have noted before how horrible a public speaker Jeffries is, and he does even worse when he is put on the spot, and Lawler just embarrassed him.
Lawler got right in Jeffries’ face, stating, “Didn’t you want all Republicans to be here? I’m here. I voted for a clean CR to keep the government open and funded. You voted to shut it down.”
Jeffries had nothing but insults to offer, then he tried to turn into a tough guy. Rather than explain this, just watch how it all went down…
🚨WATCH: Sparks fly as Rep. Mike Lawler confronts Hakeem Jeffries on why Democrats won’t help reopen the government pic.twitter.com/7M9YonJHoD
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 8, 2025
The tax break claim that Jeffries is talking about has been debunked more times than I can remember, so that is all a lie. Lawler completely dominated this public debate, and Jeffries sounded like a 7-year-old trying to argue with an adult.
On Thursday, Jeffries tried to save face in the media after being embarrassed by the Republican, stating, “He doesn’t even have the support of the House Republican leadership, who have refused to address the issue of extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”
He continued, “We will sit down with anyone, any time, any place to reopen the government, negotiate a bipartisan agreement that has to actually make life better for the American people, not hurt everyday Americans.”
Jeffries concluded, “And a meaningful part of that is to address the Republican health care crisis, which includes, but is not limited to, the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.”
But they don’t really want to bargain, and Jeffries has made that clear. He wants all or nothing, and the GOP is not going to give it to him. This shutdown could be over in two seconds if Democrats had just a handful of senators willing to take the one-year extension for Obamacare subsidies and sign the clean continuing resolution. This is their shutdown, not that of Trump and the Republicans.
