CNN reported on House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries defending his uncle’s antisemitism on 4/12/23

Hakeem Jeffrey's uncle was well known Especially in New York for his Controversial remarks among the things Leonard Jeffrey said he claimed that Rich Jews financed the slave trade he Said that Jewish Hollywood Executives Quote planned and plotted a conspiracy To denigrate black Americans in their Films he was condemned back in those Days by the Anti-Defamation League by Then Governor Mario Cuomo after a Lengthy legal battle he left his Position at the city City University of New York how had the politician Hakeem Jeffries explained this in the past So Jeffrey says downplayed his Associations uh with the past and I want People to read this quote that he gave To the Wall Street Journal in 2013 in Which he says there was no internet uh During that era and I can't even recall A daily newspaper in Binghamton New York But it wasn't covering uh the things That the New York Post and Daily News Were at the time Jeffries has made Similar comment over the years most Recently in 2019 uh to the ax files Podcast take a listen to this My father Made a deliberate decision to try to Shield us from that controversy because He was very concern as to how it could Just impact our well-being our Focus Because it was an intense situation and

I've said That there are many statements that he Has made that I disagree with and then Obviously are very different than the Course that I've followed Um And I sort of left it at that So that is Hakeem Jeffries to David Axelrod and the earlier quote you read Sort of keeping this at an arm's length I don't really know that much about it I Don't agree but I don't know much about It but you went to Binghamton University That's where Hakeem Jeffries went to College and you found he had actually Written about his uncle and Louis Farrakhan back then when he was 21 year Old as a student what did you find yeah That's right so Jeffries uh and the Black student union actually invited his Uncle to speak on campus and then after Jewish student groups protested Jeffries Led a press conference uh defending his Uncle that obviously undermines that Quote we just read from the Wall Street Journal a little bit earlier where uh he Said he could not even recall Um you know local press coverage of this He actually led a press conference uh he Then wrote this editorial where where he Defended him and I'm just going to read A couple lines from it uh he says Dr Leonard Jeffries and Louis Farrakhan Have come under intense fire where do

You think their interests lie Dr Leonard Jeffries has challenged the existing White supremacist educational system and Long-standing Distortion of History his Reward has been a media lynching Complete with uh character Assassinations and inflammatory Erroneous accusations Uh so that is very different how he Reacted responded wrote back then to What he says what he has said what about Today now that you have this reporting How his leader Jeffries responding so we Did reach out to his office yesterday uh We asked uh you know if the if there Were any inconsistencies that he saw Between what he said uh in 2013 what he Said in 2019 and what the actual record Shows they didn't respond uh to those Questions but they did give us a Statement uh where they said leader Jeffries has been clear that he does not Share the controversial reviews espoused By his uncle over 30 years ago So distance again but not a direct Reaction the direct reaction at all to The specific reporting that you have in Your k-file team has Andrew Kozinski