On Twitter, the RNC has called Jeffries an "election denier" and shared threads, screenshots, and video clips of Jeffries calling the 2016 election of Trump "illegitimate." Its website also contains a blog post called "13 times Hakeem Jeffries denied election results." Jeffries' claims mostly centered around the evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election and Robert Mueller's special counsel investigation into whether Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia.

Prior to Trump's January 2017 inauguration, Jeffries told MSNBC that there was a "cloud of illegitimacy" around the election, and said Russians, the FBI, and the "fake news industry" interfered with the 2016 election. "[Trump] didn't win the popular vote. He lost the popular vote. The majority of the Americans didn't vote for him, they voted against him," Jeffries added. "The notion that a foreign power could have interfered with American democracy in a way that could have altered the results is a unique threat to the Republic and that's a serious thing for each member to have to consider and to weigh."