A Democrat congresswoman threw serious shade at her own party’s Senate chief after his controversial decision to cross the aisle to back a GOP spending bill.
“Senate Democrats have to sit down and take a look and decide whether or not Chuck Schumer is the one to lead in this moment,” Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning.
It follows after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York had answered “next question” when asked about Schumer’s leadership on Friday, even while other liberal critics called for him to step down. Dozens of House members sent Schumer letters asking him to reverse course on Friday.
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Those comments came just hours before the Senate minority leader voted—as he’d said he would—in favor of the Republican funding patch so as to avert an impending federal shutdown.
Speaking with Crockett on Sunday, Tapper mentioned that some of her fellow party members had said they’d be eager to back Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a prospective primary challenge against Schumer when he goes up for re-election in four years.
Crockett replied that it was likely too soon to say, but went on to add, “I definitely think that younger, fresher leadership” may be needed.
Tapper also quizzed the Texas representative on her appearance in the party’s controversial “choose your fighter” viral PR stunt, launched last week to much derision online. The video featured Democrat politicians jumping into frame and bobbing like fighting avatars from vintage arcade games.
The host noted that Democrat Sen. John Fetterman had slammed it as another “bizarre” misstep amid a controversial series of protests from party members on the House floor, which he further described as a “sad cavalcade of self-owns and unhinged petulance.”
“He’s not the one to talk about anything,” Crockett shot back on Sunday, adding that “this is a guy who seemingly doesn’t own a suit,” in reference to Fetterman’s notoriously casual legislative attire.
“I don’t show up in hoodies when I’m going on the floor,” Crockett went on. “They literally had to change the rules so that he could walk around that way. So, I just don’t think he’s necessarily the one to actually have an opinion about this.”
