Pete Aguilar
Role at the time: U.S. Representative for California's 33rd district and chair of the House Democratic Caucus, posting on X
Statement summary
Representative Pete Aguilar, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said that calling House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a monkey and an errand boy is blatantly racist and dangerous, and that racism in political discourse should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.
“Calling Leader Jeffries a “monkey” and an “errand boy” is blatantly racist and dangerous. Full stop. There is no place for racism anywhere in our political discourse, and it should be condemned in the strongest possible terms.”
Mediaite report on Democratic lawmakers' reactions to Rula Jebreal's remarks about Hakeem Jeffries. It quotes Jebreal and reproduces the lawmakers' posts on X.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Why we used this label
The case asks whether Rula Jebreal's remarks about Hakeem Jeffries were racist. Aguilar wrote that calling Jeffries a "monkey" and an "errand boy" is blatantly racist and dangerous, and that racism in political discourse should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. That is an express judgment that the language was racist, so we labeled it Condemned.