‘That’s A Failure’: Top Pelosi, Harris Lieutenant Who Ran Anti-Trump War Room Blasts Jeffries’ Leadership

Ashley Etienne, a former communications director for both former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Kamala Harris, blasted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ decisions at the helm of the Democratic Caucus during a podcast episode released Thursday.

Etienne, who ran the former speaker’s anti-Trump war room, blasted Pelosi’s successor as House Democratic leader over his alleged lack of coordination and organization, during an appearance on Politico’s Playbook Deep Dive podcast. Etienne, citing conversations with Democratic House lawmakers, portrayed Jeffries as indecisive and too weak in opposition to President Donald Trump.

“If you don’t have coordination, you’ve just got words on a paper that you’re calling talking points,” Etienne said. “It’s meaningless. And I think that’s where we are right now.”

“I was hearing from leadership staff that the leadership on Capitol Hill right now wants to sort of move away from that Pelosi era — that they … don’t want to embrace anyone or anything that’s like Pelosi,” Etienne told the podcast host, Politico’s Rachael Bade. “Which I just think is the dumbest s-h-i-t ever.”

Although Etienne expressed respect for Jeffries’ “ability to message,” she immediately followed up saying that the top House Democrat cannot effectively make decisions on how to message.

“What I’ve been hearing from members is that, to sort of some it up, he thinks long, too long and wrong about things. He takes too much council and then takes too long to make a decision,” Etienne said. “Which says that maybe you don’t trust your gut in the moment, which is also fair when you’re a new leader cause you’re still trying to figure it all out. It might also suggest maybe you don’t have a handle on the caucus, or you don’t have a handle on how to actually land some punches on Donald Trump.”