Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat, speaks at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30, 2025. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON — A group of Democratic caucus leaders on Tuesday blasted a vulgar deepfake of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted by President Donald Trump on social media.
The chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, Democratic Women’s Caucus, New Democrat Coalition, Congressional Progressive Caucus and Congressional Equality Caucus also refused to back down on their health care demands as the federal government barrels toward a shutdown.
The GOP and Democratic lawmakers are in a deadlock, and funding is set to run out by midnight Tuesday, when the new fiscal year begins.
“We won’t vote for anything that doesn’t restore the cuts to Medicaid and doesn’t protect people that will be paying higher premiums,” Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat said at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, referring to Medicaid reductions made in the “big, beautiful” law enacted by Republicans earlier this year.
The New York Democrat said “we won’t mess around with Americans’ health care — people that are sick that deserve to have a first-quality health care system providing assistance to them in one of the most serious periods of their lives.”
While Republicans want a “clean” stopgap funding bill to keep the government open, Democrats are calling for the extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire at the end of 2025 and the reversal of sweeping health care changes brought by the GOP’s mega tax and spending cuts law, including the massive funding cuts to Medicaid.
‘Racist meme’ by Trump slammed
Trump posted the deepfake on his social media platform Truth Social just hours after his White House meeting with Schumer, Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, which failed to yield any funding deal. The Congressional Budget Office estimated Tuesday that some 750,000 federal employees could be furloughed if the government shuts down.
The 35-second video appears to be AI-generated and uses the setting of Schumer and Jeffries, both New York Democrats, speaking to reporters outside the White House after their meeting with Trump.
The fake video shows Jeffries with a sombrero and mustache and Schumer ranting that “if we give all these illegal aliens free health care, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us.”
Espaillat of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus described the video as “insulting,” saying it shows Trump is “out of touch with the health care challenges of the American people.”
The New York Democrat said “with your health care on the line, all he could do is put out this deepfake racist meme — not funny at all, not for any of us here, particularly for people that are ill and fighting for their lives that need health care.”
Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández also blasted the video, saying “that’s not how you get to a deal.” Instead, the New Mexico Democrat said Trump’s decision to post it “looks like a little 6-year-old having a temper tantrum.”
‘Bigotry will get you nowhere’
Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke, a New York Democrat, said “the juvenile behavior coming out of the White House should not be dignified by any American.”
Clarke noted that her caucus “will not support a partisan spending bill that slashes health care, guts federal jobs and raises costs, all while targeting the very communities that keep this country running.”
In a social media post Monday responding to the fabricated video, Schumer said “if you think your shutdown is a joke, it just proves what we all know: You can’t negotiate. You can only throw tantrums.”
Jeffries also responded to Trump on social media Monday, saying “bigotry will get you nowhere” and “we are NOT backing down.”
