Ex-Pelosi aide accuses Hakeem Jeffries of 'squandering' anti-Trump opportunities in stunning rebuke

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A former top advisor to ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is not meeting the moment in the current Trump era.

"Trump is just giving us all this incredible red meat. I mean, I've never seen anything like this before. It's like the biggest gift any party has been given by the opposition, and we're just squandering it, to a degree," former Pelosi advisor Ashley Etienne told Politico's Deep Dive podcast. 

Etienne helped Pelosi oversee Democrats' messaging during President Donald Trump's first impeachment. She also previously worked for former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign.

She said Jeffries was "doing well" in many areas and said she had "a tremendous amount of respect" for the New York Democrat but signaled that he was missing opportunities on anti-Trump messaging.

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"He gave a speech this morning. I don't have any talking points in my phone about what he said. And I'm going to be doing TV and this interview all day. That's a failure," Etienne said.

"How do you get to discipline if you're not telling people what the hell you want them to say? At least emphatically, at least tonally."

Jeffries' allies pushed back against that characterization, pointing out that intraparty friction was taking attention away from Trump's low poll numbers and Republicans' policies.

"Donald Trump's approval ratings are plummeting, and he's bringing House Republicans down with him. Extreme MAGA Republicans have been forced to delay their plans to advance Trump's centerpiece legislative priority due to intense backlash against their scheme to enact the largest cuts in history to Medicaid and food assistance. Let's keep the main thing, the main thing," Jeffries spokesperson Christiana Stephenson told Fox News Digital.

Just Friday morning, Jeffries released a statement hammering House Republicans for having to delay part of their legislative work to advance Trump's agenda.

But Etienne's comments are a notable rebuke from a former senior Democratic leadership aide to one of the party's most powerful current officials, which comes after months of Democrats being plagued by infighting over messaging woes.

Etienne noted that Democrats had scored several wins on the messaging front, like having "successfully demonized Elon Musk" and Sen. Cory Booker's recent record-breaking filibuster speech.

But she singled out liberals' protests during Trump's speech to a joint session of Congress as an "embarrassing" setback for the party and Jeffries.

"If you look at the headlines post-the speech, even during the speech, it was more about Democrats and Democrats protesting rather than what Trump was actually saying. And in those kind of moments, you don't want to become the story. You want Trump to be the story," Etienne said.

"And I also thought it was a problem for Mr. Jeffries. I mean, it really says a lot about how people value his leadership. He asked for no protest. And what did they do? They protest 50 different ways."

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Both Pelosi and Jeffries' offices told Politico that the latter often seeks the former's input, and Jeffries' spokesperson pushed back on Politico's reporting that House Democratic leaders were seeking to move past Pelosi and that Jeffries was not doing enough to help Democratic groups with messaging. 

One of those groups, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), pushed back on the assertion they were not hearing enough from Jeffries.

PCCC sent out a press release that read, "Today, in a POLITICO article we are not interested in dwelling on, a former Pelosi staffer attacked Hakeem Jeffries. PCCC co-founder Adam Green said, 'We hear more from Jeffries than we ever heard from Pelosi.'"

Meanwhile, a House Democratic aide told Fox News Digital that Jeffries held "multiple calls" previewing his earlier speech on Trump's first 100 days in office, as well as talking points "emphasizing the Leader's message that President Trump's first 100 days have been a disaster for the American people."

Stephenson, Jeffries' spokesperson, also posted on X of Politico's report, "Can anyone tell me how grandstanding like this is anything other than a gift to Republicans?"

But House Republicans' elections arm was quick to pounce on the discord as well.

"Hakeem Jeffries is the so-called leader of a team that doesn't fear him, doesn't follow him, and now, doesn't even pretend to respect him," National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement. 

And Democratic strategist Julian Epstein, a former chief counsel of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized Jeffries' leadership but said that Trump was not Democrats' main problem.

"He's not a particularly effective speaker, gives no sense of direction or purpose, seems intent on not offending anyone, and has a leadership style that seems extremely passive," Epstein said.

"The Democrats in the House just seem like a big blob that goes wherever gravity takes them, and right now gravity is taking them to the hard protest left. But no matter who the leader is, if the Democrats are selling a product that voters don't like, it won't matter."

Pelosi's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.