Old college editorial undermines Jeffries narrative on uncle's antisemitism scandal

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has claimed to only have a "vague recollection" of decades-old scandal involving his uncle's past anti-Semitic statements, though a college editorial he wrote defending him appears to undermine that narrative.

Leonard Jeffries, in 1991, made inflammatory statements about Jewish involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and an alleged effort by Jews in the media to denigrate black individuals in films. The younger Jeffries claimed he could not recall any reporting on the subject and only barely remembered the incident at all, CNN reported.

While he was a student at Binghamton University, the Black Student Union, of which Jeffries was a leader, invited his uncle to speak on campus in the aftermath of his statements. Moreover, CNN's KFile unearthed Jeffries's editorial, in which he defended both his uncle and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, suggesting that the outcry was manufactured and merely the product of an outraged establishment that saw the pair as a threat to its power.

"Do you think that a ruling elite would promote individuals who would seek to dismantle their vice like grip on power?" Jeffries asked. "Dr. Leonard Jeffries and Minister Louis Farrakhan have come under intense fire," he added. "Where do you think their interests lie? Dr. Jeffries has challenged the existing white supremist educational system and long standing distortion of history. His reward has been a media lynching complete with character assassinations and inflammatory erroneous accusations."

The minority leader's office told the outlet that he does not share the opinions his uncle promoted in the 1990s.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.