House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that he and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer were baffled when a “Trump 2028” hat “randomly appeared” on the Oval Office desk during their last-ditch meeting with the president to avert a government shutdown.
The Democratic leaders met with President Donald Trump Monday in a futile attempt to avoid the shutdown, which came into effect at midnight after a stopgap funding bill failed in the Senate.
A report by Punchbowl earlier said Trump tried to hand the MAGA merchandise to Schumer and Jeffries during the meeting, but the New York Democrat told CNN’s Abby Phillip what happened was much more bizarre.
“When he tried to hand you that Trump 2028 hat, what was your reaction?” Phillip asked Jeffries Tuesday evening.
“Well, actually, he did not try to hand Leader Schumer and I the Trump 2028 hat. They just randomly appeared in the middle of the meeting on the desk,” said Jeffries. “It was the strangest thing ever.”
There was then an awkward moment involving Vice President JD Vance.
“I just looked at the hat, looked at JD Vance, who was seated to my left, and said, ‘Don’t you got a problem with this?’ and he said, ‘No comment,’” Jeffries revealed. “And that was the end of it.”
Trump’s online store launched the campaign-style hat for $50 in April.
After the meeting, where no progress was made, Trump later posted a vulgar and racist deepfake AI video of Jeffries dressed in a Mexican serape and sombrero with big handlebar mustache as Schumer was depicted yelling obscenities and saying, “Nobody likes democrats anymore.”
Jeffries condemned the video, telling MSNBC the clip was a “malignant distraction from people who are determined to continue to rip healthcare away.”
Since early in his 2024 campaigning, Trump repeatedly mused about serving an unconstitutional third term.
The president told NBC’s Kristen Welker in late March that he was “not joking” when he proposed a third term, claiming there are “methods [by] which you could do it.”
“A lot of people want me to do it,” Trump told Welker. “But, I mean, I basically tell them we have a long way to go, you know, it’s very early in the administration.”
In August, Trump conceded that he would “like to run” but that he would “probably not” seek a third term.
