The Briefing with Jen Psaki

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez talks with Jen Psaki about the significance of primary victories by Democratic Socialist congressional candidates in New York City and why sitting Democrats would be smart to meet these new potential members as colleagues and not buy into the fear-mongering frenzy the right-wing is stirring up.

JD Vance tried to downplay the significance of the Watergate scandal by declaring that it would be merely a 12-hour scandal today. What he didn't say but what everyone heard is that the reason Watergate would be a smaller story today is that Donald Trump produces scandals bigger than that at a rate faster than the news media can report. Jen Psaki gets reaction from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

The same vanity that is making a priority of Donald Trump's pet projects maybe also be their undoing, at least in the case of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool project. New reporting from the New York Times suggests that part of the reason for the out-of-control algae bloom in the pool is that devices meant to treat the water were removed at the same time that Donald Trump wanted to make a pretty spectacle of his UFC birthday celebration of himself. David Fahrenthold, investigative reporter for the New York Times, talks with Jen Psaki about his new reporting and the emerging pattern among projects Trump pushes with no-bid contracts. "The things Trump wants done the most are often the things that are done the least well."

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After years of political party power players like Senator Mitch McConnell trying to take control of national party purse strings to which candidates to help and how to shape the party, all it took was one ruling by the Supreme Court to change the way campaign politics is funded. Jen Psaki talks with Jim Messina, former campaign manager for President Barack Obama about how the Supreme Court's ruling changes the game in terms of how political donations are spent.

Donald Trump has had a long-time fixation on the political power of demagoguing around restricting citizenship and who can be called a citizen of the United States. And despite the plain language of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, Trump is not alone on the radical right in wanting to expunge birthright citizenship as an American right. Rep. Jamie Raskin and general counsel for the NAACP, Kristen Clarke, talk with Jen Psaki about creeping right-wing tide against birthright citizenship and the significance that today's Supreme Court ruling was too close for comfort.

Rep. Jason Crow talks with Jen about the eyebrow-raising results coming out of tonight's Colorado primaries. 

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Michael Steele shares a jaw-dropping exchange between Senator Gary Peters and Postmaster General David Steiner in which Steiner admits that a new proposed Trump administration rule would withhold mail ballots from states that do not comply with Trump's voter database demands. Senate Peters joins to discuss.

Mychael Schnell, MS Now congressional reporter, and Scott MacFarlane, chief Washington correspondent for MeidasTouch, discuss Donald Trump making enemies in his own party.

Kristen Clarke, former assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Department of Justice, talks with Michael Steele about how the lop-sided Supreme Court is hollowing out civil rights under the Constitution and what reforms need to be made when power changes hands in Washington.

Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford joins to discuss his race for governor and the issues voters are telling him need to be addressed.

And Adm. John Kirby discusses Donald Trump's Iran mess and how Iran is playing the upper hand in its victory over Trump.

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Jen Psaki looks at how Donald Trump failed at what should have been the easiest assignment of his presidency, celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States. And Trump even managed to blow up the signing ceremony for what should have been a no-brainer, bipartisan, American-helping housing bill. But it was in his unhinged tweets that it became clear what was really on his mind.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries discusses last night's primary elections, including the races in New York in which candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani defeated candidates backed by Jeffries.

Jen Psaki explains the difference between the America 250 planning to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States, and "Freedom 250," which is Donald Trump's vehicle to make America's 250th birthday about himself at to his own benefit. Senator Jon Ossoff joins to discuss how self-dealing corruption has become a hallmark of Donald Trump's presidency.

Senator Elizabeth Warren talks with Jen Psaki about Donald Trump's refusal to sign a bipartisan housing bill that will help Americans struggling with the high cost of living in Trump's economy.

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Jen Psaki talks with Senator Raphael Warnock about how voters in Georgia are standing up against Republican redistricting and Donald Trump's immigrant prison camp plans as Americans are increasingly aware that the only way to stop Trump is to stand up to him.

Nancy Lacore was serving as a vice admiral in the U.S. Navy when she was fired as part of former weekend cable news host Pete Hegseth's anti-diversity purge of military leadership. But now Lacore is a promising new candidate for Congress, winning the Democratic primary runoff for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District while on the air with Jen Psaki, and with control of the House in the balance, Trump may regret Hegseth's crusade.

MS NOW's Ali Velshi reports from the big board as primary election returns come in.

Lis Smith, former deputy campaign manager for Martin O'Malley, and Morris Katz, Morris Katz, Democratic strategist on the Mamdani and Platner campaigns, discuss the dynamics within the Democratic Party as more liberal candidates win primaries and Trump's unpopularity drives moderate Republicans into an ever-growing tent.

 

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