David GilmourMay 4th, 2026, 8:35 am

Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) leapt to the defense of Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries after President Donald Trump publicly floated the idea of impeaching him over remarks calling the Supreme Court “illegitimate.”

Speaking on MS NOW’s The Weekend on Sunday, Espaillat dismissed the president’s attack as politically motivated, framing it as a response to Jeffries’ growing influence within the Democratic Party and contrasting it with Trump’s own ratings.

“He is a president that’s drowning in his dismal poll numbers and is hanging on [for] dear life, trying to finger-point and try to discredit a member of Congress who clearly is rising, who clearly has the support of his peers, and who I think called it like it was,” Espaillat said.

He added of Trump: “And so, you’ll hear more from him as his polls continue to drop, as they are right now.”

The clash comes after Trump used his Truth Social platform to lash out at Jeffries for calling the Supreme Court “illegitimate” following a ruling that he called a “blow” to a key provision of the Voting Rights Act protecting democratic representation for minorities.

“Hakeem Jeffries, a Low IQ individual, said our Supreme Court is ‘illegitimate.’ After saying such a thing, isn’t he subject to Impeachment? I got impeached for A PERFECT PHONE CALL. Where are you Republicans? Why not get it started? They’ll be doing this to me!” Trump wrote on Sunday.

Jeffries responded tersely on X, posting: “Jeffries Derangement Syndrome” in a pointed echo of the president’s long-used phrase attacking critics.

The dispute stems from a 6-3 Supreme Court decision last week that struck down Louisiana’s addition of a second majority-Black congressional district, ruling it an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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