The Briefing with Jen Psaki

The Senate Finance Committee was not gentle with Donald Trump's HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., grilling him on his perspectives on vaccines and often catching him in contradictions. Jen Psaki shares highlights of some of Kennedy's more frustrating lies, and the efforts of senators to call him out. As Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, levels accusations of mortgage...

The role of Jeffrey Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Roberts Giuffre in demanding accountability for Epstein and his accomplices, and keeping the case in the spotlight even as powerful forces attempted to make the case disappear, cannot be overstated. Sky and Amanda Roberts, brother and sister-in-law of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, talk with Jen Psaki about the challenges Giuffre faced, and her legacy...

Jen Psaki shares Donald Trump's seemingly self-contradicting answer to a question about internet rumors that he had been out of the public eye for several days because he had died. But Trump has plenty of other reasons to want to hide from the American public. Jen Psaki shows how Donald Trump's unpopular and illegal agenda is suffering one legal loss after another in court challenges, and talks wi...

Ian Bassin, co-founder and executive director of Protect Democracy, and former federal prosecutor Kristy Greenberg, talk with Jen Psaki about a federal appeals court finding that Donald Trump's tariffs are illegal, and other legal problems the administration is having with overreach, like Jeanine Pirro humiliating herself with her failure to match an indictment to her tough talk on the sandwich-th...

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who resigned in protest from his position as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, talks with Jen Psaki about the valuable work being done by the people at the CDC, and how the Trump administration, through HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is corrupting the CDC with unscientific attitudes and agendas. Jen's Version: Jen Psaki answers...

Jen Psaki addresses the horrific shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis and the shocking gun statistics in the United States that "should make everyone angry." Psaki points to new gun legislation that passed under the Biden administration after a mass shooting at a supermarket, and reminds viewers that anger can turn into activism, activism can turn into pressure, and pressure can change law...

Jen Psaki shares samples of the gross, sycophantic fawning of Donald Trump's Cabinet members at a group meeting that leaves little wonder why Trump thinks "a lot of people say" he should be a dictator. His own Cabinet already treats him like one. Jen Psaki reports on Donald Trump's director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who is using his access to federal housing data to accuse Trump's pol...

With Texas poised to pass a redistricting bill to help Donald Trump rig the midterm elections in his favor to retain control of Congress, Democrats are taking the fight to Trump. Trump's renewed engagement with Vladimir Putin on the war in Ukraine has made a new priority of the return of Ukrainian children stolen by Putin. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NO...

Despite his deep delusions to the contrary, Donald Trump turning Washington, D.C. into a police state is making life and business in the District worse, thanks in large part to the team of bad faith bunglers Trump has assembled to carry out his will. While Trump's acolytes appear eager to help him weaponize the DOJ and law enforcement against his political enemies, their incompetence mostly yields...

Expectations for the outcome of Donald Trump's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin were low, but few people anticipated that in addition to producing no agreement, the meeting would be followed by a low-energy 12 minute press presentation with no details given and no questions taken. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. H...

Despite efforts to lower expectations for his big meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump still managed to underperform with nothing to show for the meeting, which was followed by a "press conference" with no details and no questions taken. Jen Psaki is joined by her MSNBC colleague Nicolle Wallace, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, and former deputy national se...

Donald Trump's use of federal forces to crack down on residents of Washington, D.C. is not well received. Neither is the crackdown by federal immigration authorities on immigrant school children. Gavin Newsom has presented his counter to Donald Trump's gerrymandering scheme by offering to voters a new district map that would only be triggered if Texas changes their map first. Jen Psaki takes a clo...

Donald Trump cements his dictator identity by rewriting U.S. history to his liking, tampering with museum exhibits, and deploying the U.S. military against Americans in the name of crime fighting. Democratic members of Congress try to hold ICE accountable for terrible conditions at its internment prisons, but HHS is getting better at hiding its tracks and its abuses. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s derang...

The truth of Donald Trump's deployment of the National Guard to police Washington, D.C. is evident in the demographics of other cities he claims to want to target. Governor Wes Moore makes it clear that he is not interested in playing along with Trump's stunt if Trump tries to move on to Baltimore. Moore also says that redistricting in his state is possible if Donald Trump persists in trying to ri...

August 8, 2025; 9pm: The Trump administration continues to dance around their promise to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, but now Democracy Forward is filing a lawsuit for access to internal communications regarding the handling of the case, which could expose whatever it is that Donald Trump does not want known. Trump has announced an upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at wh...

Jen Psaki points out that, contrary to initial denials, JD Vance, Pam Bondi, and Kash Patel met to discuss messaging strategy around Donald Trump's Jeffrey Epstein scandal. It furthermore appears that the group worked out a list of FBI officials who had a role in some aspect of Donald Trump's legal disgrace, and fired them. Texas Democrats remain in a fight to preserve American democracy, and Geor...

August 7, 2025; 9pm: Jen Psaki looks at how Donald Trump distorts the justice system to benefit himself, with the White House machinations around his Jeffrey Epstein scandal being the latest example. Survivors of Epstein's abuse are outraged that they are being excluded again. The Department of Homeland Security has been given a massive infusion of taxpayer dollars to pump into ICE for immigration...

August 5, 2025, 9pm: Donald Trump's acolytes, including Attorney General Pam Bondi attempt to minimize Trump's connection to notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his sex trafficker accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, while hoping that a re-boot of the investigation into the investigation into Russia's support of Trump's candidacy in 2016 will be a further distraction. Texas Governor Greg Abbott tries...

Donald Trump's reckless manhandling of the levers of the U.S. economy, from tariff chaos to cruel anti-immigrant policy is reflected in poor numbers in the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unsurprisingly, though no less shockingly, Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, following a pattern of attacking data whenever it doesn't serve his preferred nar...

Despite Donald Trump's claim of king-like powers to apply trade tariffs by his own whims, a lawsuit being heard in federal appeals court argues that he is asserting a power no president has, and his claims of emergency powers are contradicted by his myriad non-emergency excuses. Neal Katyal, who argued the case against Trump in court today, talks with Jen Psaki. To listen to this show and other MS...

Jen Psaki points to the rare sight of Republicans daring to defy Donald Trump. And while it's only a few, that defiance is exposing the weakness behind Trump's bluster and threatens to spread at Trump's popularity with voters continues to fall. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.a...

With the confirmation of Donald Trump's criminal defense attorney to a lifetime appointment as a federal judge, Donald Trump took another step in his quest to fill the legal system with loyalists, all with the help of pliant congressional Republicans.  To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. S...

Jen Psaki reports on Donald Trump's unresolved and worsening Jeffrey Epstein scandal is giving Republicans a headache at home as they've left Washington for their home districts for the rest of the summer. Trump, meanwhile, went all the way to Scotland, only to find the Epstein scandal waiting there for his arrival. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premi...

Maria Farmer, one of the first women to speak out about the abuses of Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and her attorney, Jennifer Freeman, talk with Jen Psaki about why she told investigators about Donald Trump, and her desire to testify to Congress and gain access to her own records in the Epstein files.  To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for M...

Jen Psaki relays breaking news from the Wall Street Journal that Attorney General Pam Bondi told Donald Trump in May that that his name is in the Epstein files, suggesting the reason the Trump administration has been so energized to prevent the release of material related to the investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium o...