Hakeem Jeffries Shreds Pete Hegseth With Blistering DEI Burn

Donald Trump’s defense secretary was slammed by the House minority leader over a new “outrageous” book ban.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) took aim at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the weekend, delivering a blistering critique of the Trump appointee’s latest stance on diversity, equity and inclusion.

He also offered a fiery new take on the DEI acronym.

In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter), Jeffries slammed Hegseth and other Trump officials who are anti-DEI as “dumb effing individuals.”

Jeffries’ comments came as he denounced the reported removal of books from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis — including works on slavery, the civil rights movement and the Holocaust.

“The outrageous Naval Academy book ban targets Maya Angelou and the Holocaust, but excludes Adolf Hitler,” Jeffries wrote alongside the video. “This must be reversed immediately.”

Watch the clip:

The outrageous Naval Academy book ban targets Maya Angelou and the Holocaust, but excludes Adolf Hitler.

This must be reversed immediately. pic.twitter.com/5jZ8Z3F3iG

— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) April 12, 2025

Hegseth, who has led efforts to eliminate DEI programming in the military, responded on Fox News during an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo.

“That’s how far they have fallen. It’s astonishing, not surprising,” Hegseth said, dismissing Jeffries’ criticism. “Of course, they don’t like the fact that we’re ripping DEI out of the military and making it colorblind and merit-based.”