The Briefing with Jen Psaki

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Loose lips Trump blabs about covert Venezuela mission; appears to be making it up as he goes Dec 31, 2025

Show notes

As the U.S. military remains mostly opaque on the details of ongoing aggression against Venezuelan targets, Donald Trump lack of filter and braggadocious inclinations mean there is little holding him back from blurting about a recent U.S. attack. Margaret Donovan, former federal prosecutor and former Judge Advocate General officer, and MS NOW senior national security reporter David Rohde discuss what is known about what the U.S. is doing in Venezuela and whether the Trump administration is reverse engineering legal justifications for its actions.

With the arrest of Pastor Joe Campbell earlier this month on child sex abuse charges, the women who have spent decades seek justice for abuse they accuse Campbell of committing may be closer to that goal. Abuse survivor Phaedra Creed talks with Antonia Hylton about her feelings about Campbell's arrest, the effort it took, and insights her experience offers for women who were abused at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.

The ongoing release of Jeffrey Epstein-related files continues to raise more questions than answers. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam joins to discuss.

Cesar Vazquez discusses progress in protecting his neighbors in California from the abuses of ICE.

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'Not on the level': Trump makes sketchy business of second term Dec 25, 2025

Show notes

Jen Psaki looks at the many ways Donald Trump is using his time in office to enrich himself from the very start of his second term in office.

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New Epstein docs point to potential co-conspirators; Trump DOJ still slow-walks release Dec 24, 2025

Show notes

Jen Psaki reports on some of the new discoveries in the latest tranche of files released in the Epstein document collection, as well as new questions raised by what is being concealed by inappropriate redactions and the slow-paced release of material from Donald Trump's Justice Department. Rep. Ro Khanna joins to discuss what is still missing from the release and what materials will actually address the question of who worked with Epstein and participated in his abuses.

Jen Psaki remarks on some of the weak explanations given by CBS News management for spiking a 60 Minutes story about a Donald Trump deportation scandal. Former ABC News senior national correspondent, Terry Moran, joins to discuss the situation and the bigger picture concerns about Donald Trump and his billionaire supporters slowly transforming the free media in the United States into a subservient, supporting wing of the Trump administration.

John Brennan, former director of the CIA, joins Jen to talk about Donald Trump's warped perspective on national security.

Annie Farmer and Jennifer Freeman talk with Jen about how survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse are deal with the slow roll out of Epstein documents to the public.

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DOJ risks criminal prosecution for defying Epstein documents release law: Weissmann Dec 20, 2025

Show notes

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, and Julie K. Brown, investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, talk with Jen Psaki about the Justice Department's failure to comply with a law requiring the full release of the Epstein documents. Brown points out that much of the new document release consists of material that was already in the public domain. Weissmann explains different ways the DOJ can be held to account for failing to meet the law's requirements, not the least of which is actual criminal prosecution, with a statute of limitations exceeding the longevity of Donald Trump's term and his protection.

Sky and Amanda Roberts, brother and sister-in-law of outspoken accuser of Jeffrey Epstein Virginia Giuffre, talk with Jen Psaki about their frustration with Donald Trump's Justice Department for failing to follow the law requiring the release of all of the Epstein documents, and their determination to continue to fight for the truth to come out and for those involved to be held to account.

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'Bad, fast-talking infomercial': Psaki fact-checks Trump's address Dec 18, 2025

Show notes

Jen Psaki shares her first reaction and offers some corrections and clarifications to Donald Trump's address to the nation. MS NOW's Catherine Rampell and senior White House correspondent Vaughn Hillyard join with further fact-checking an analysis.

Senator Mark Kelly shares his reaction to Donald Trump's address to the nation, describing Trump as "angry and desperate and defensive," and mocking the ridiculous intersection of math and Trump's dishonest exaggerations. Kelly also discusses Trump's military escalation with Venezuela.

And reporter Chris Whipple talks with Jen about his blockbuster piece in Vanity Fair based on 11 interviews with Donald Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

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Trump chief of staff makes disastrous miscalculation in talks with reporter Dec 17, 2025

Show notes

Jen Psaki shares highlights and insights from a new Vanity Fair article based on interviews with Donald Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles. The article not only shows that there are no "adults in the room" at Trump's White House, but shows Wiles to be so incompetent that agreeing to interviews with a reporter looks like a really bad idea.

Rep. Adam Smith, top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee talks with Jen Psaki about the lack of information and evasiveness by the Trump administration in explaining to Congress the reasoning behind Donald Trump's increasing belligerence toward Venezuela and the clear risk of plunging the United States into another forever war.

With a new release of Epstein documents set for this Friday, Donald Trump and his supporting Republicans are getting anxious, but Rep. Robert Garcia isn't sure how much Friday's release will contain.

Another looming deadline as the year comes to an end is the expiration of health care subsidies. Rep. Brendan Boyle explains that the best hope that Republicans will act to prevent millions of Americans from losing their healthcare is that enough angry voters make Republicans more afraid of them than they are of Donald Trump.

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Tish James, who nailed Trump for fraud, humiliates Trump's prosecutors with third indictment failure Dec 12, 2025

Show notes

Donald Trump's prosecutors tried and failed a third time to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has repeatedly humiliated Donald Trump by exposing fraud in his organizations. Abbe Lowell, attorney for James, talks with Jen Psaki about the egregiousness of the politically motivated case, and the possibility of a counter suit over the DOJ's abuse of power.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries talks with Jen about the upcoming midterms, Donald Trump's unpopularity, and Indiana Republicans rejecting Trump's push to boost the number of Republican districts to help him preserve power in Congress.

Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock talks with Jen Psaki about the looming health care crisis if Republicans continue to be unable to produce a solution to extent Obamacare subsidies, and the factors that are contributing to the housing crisis in the U.S. that Republicans in charge of Congress are also unable to address.

Senator Adam Schiff discusses the upcoming release of Epstein investigation documents.

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Maddow: Trump's attacks on immigrants serve a more sinister purpose Dec 11, 2025

Show notes

Jen Psaki introduces viewers to Rachel Maddow's new podcast, "Burn Order," about Japanese internment in the U.S. during World War II, and points out that unlike Americans of that era, Americans now are being much more outspoken in support of immigrants and in condemnation of Donald Trump's anti-immigrant policies. Rachel Maddow joins to discuss Trump's use of anti-immigrant scapegoating as a means of giving himself more power.

Rachel Maddow talks with Jen Psaki about Donald Trump's cluelessness regarding U.S. aggression toward Venezuela while the administration's explanations change and don't make sense. Maddow notes that what appears to be happening is a regime-change war to get access to Venezuela's oil.

Senator Jon Ossoff joins Jen to discuss the recent string of Democratic candidates outperforming expectations set in 2024.

And Senator Ruben Gallego discusses another Democratic upset win, this time for mayor of Miami.

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Trump's old tricks fall flat from overuse in the face of hard realities Dec 10, 2025

Show notes

Jen Psaki reviews the myriad scandals, disgraces, and bad news stories that are plaguing Donald Trump and his administration, and the familiar playbook of gaslighting, distraction, and lies that Trump is deploying with decreasing effectiveness.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear talks with Jen Psaki about the factual gap between Donald Trump's bizarre economic boasts and the reality that Americans are living with in an economy burdened and distorted by Trump's tariff policy.

Even as Donald Trump tries to move on to fresher scandals, questions about the new U.S. practice of blowing up boats in the Caribbean Sea and Trump's threats to start a war with Venezuela remain pressing. Rep. Chris Deluzio discusses.

And Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of Semafor, talks with Jen about Donald Trump's heavy hand in shaping a new media oligarchy with the help of his son-in-law Jared Kushner.

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Psaki: No one home at the White House but the man-children Dec 06, 2025

Show notes

Jen Psaki looks at the myriad ways Donald Trump and members of his administration are indulging reckless, juvenile ideas with no one pushing back to force a re-thinking. Miles Taylor, former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security during Donald Trump's first term, joins to share his experience of why it's so bad that there are no grown-ups in the White House in Trump's second term.

Rep. Adelita Grijalva talks with Jen Psaki about being confronted with aggression from border agents when she tried to get answers about an ICE raid taking place on a beloved local restaurant in her district, despite identifying herself to them as a member of Congress.

Also Jeh Johnson, former top lawyer at the Pentagon discusses the U.S. blowing up boats and killing people in the Caribbean Sea.

And Michael Feinberg, former FBI field ops section chief talks about the terrible job Kash Patel is doing as director of the FBI.

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