The Briefing with Jen Psaki

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 enforcement, so they're putting new effort into recruiting more agents. And Texas Democrats are still fighting to prevent state Republicans from further distorting the state map with gerrymandering to preserve Trump's hold on Congress after the 2026 midterms.

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 to get heavy with Democrats who are denying state Republicans a quorum so they can't further gerrymander the state to try to help Trump hold onto his majority in Congress. And meanwhile, Republicans who are returning to their home districts are facing outrage from constituents for their blind support of Trump's wildly unpopular policies.

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 narrative.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Texas State Rep. James Talarico talks with Jen Psaki about applying his Christian faith to modern American politics, the scourge of Christian nationalism, countering the influence of billionaires in politics, and what Texas Democrats can do to block Donald Trump's plan to rig the 2026 election by gerrymandering Texas so it produces more Republican members of Congress to maintain his control.