Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘You Can’t Say That’: Charlamagne Tells Leading Dems To ‘Cut It Out’ After Suddenly Opposing Big Money In Politics

Screenshot/YouTube/Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM

Radio host Charlamagne Tha God told House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday to stop hypocritically railing against big money in politics.

Jeffries and Schumer have both condemned the influence of wealthy Americans on Republicans since President Donald Trump’s election in November. Charlamagne, on “The Breakfast Club,” said their rhetoric rings hollow due to the significant funds they have accepted from wealthy contributors.

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“I think it’s ridiculous even when they try to say things, you know, all these conversations about oligarchy, oligarchy, oligarchy,” Charlamagne said. “Now [independent Vermont Sen.] Bernie [Sanders] and [Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] AOC, they can go out there and say ‘fight the oligarchy.’ Hakeem Jeffries, you can’t say that. Okay, like, cut it out.”

“We know that you’ve taken so much money from corporate donors. So, it’s just weird to see them, you know, push back against oligarchy now and say, ‘Look at the billionaires controlling Trump.’ It’s like, really?” he continued. “You, Hakeem, really? Chuck Schumer, really?”

Despite Jeffries’ rhetoric, he discreetly convened with over 150 Silicon Valley-based donors in February, Politico reported. Jeffries’ move followed Big Tech increasingly aligning with Trump following his November victory.

Moreover, Jeffries Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee that supports the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Jeffries and Jobs Education & Families First has received over $1 million in total from billionaires George Soros and Pat Stryker from 2023 to 2025, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.

Furthermore, billionaires such as Soros contributed tens of millions of dollars to the Schumer-linked Senate Majority PAC in the first half of 2023, the Washington Examiner reported.

Former President Joe Biden also warned about the threat of “oligarchy” during his January farewell address, saying it “literally threatens our entire democracy.”

Charlamagne said Biden’s speech was “highly hypocritical” at the time.

“I think it’s highly hypocritical for any elected official in America to talk about oligarchy when all of them have been puppets for these PACs and corporate donations for years,” he said. “You know, that’s something that you hear Bernie Sanders talking about and [Democratic Pennsylvania Sen.] John Fetterman talking about — how you gotta take all of this corporate money out of politics.”

The radio host suggested at the time that billionaire Elon Musk, who became a Trump backer during the 2024 presidential campaign, was only different from other rich donors due to how open he was to the public.

“He’s always tweeting; he’s the face of it right now,” he said. “But this has been going on for years.”