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The Briefing with Jen Psaki
MS NOW, Jen Psaki
Jen Psaki tackles the biggest issues of the week and features one-on-one interviews with newsmakers.
81 claims · Clear filters
True60% confidence5 sourcesOct 23, 2026Donald Trump pressured Bill Barr to use the Justice Department to support claims of election fraud in 2020.Said by AThe sources document Trump pressuring the Justice Department over unsubstantiated 2020 fraud claims while Bill Barr was Attorney General, and Barr publicly rejected those claims. No source explicitly describes Trump pressing Barr personally to use the department to back the claims, so that link rests on inference from the documented pressure and Barr's rebuff.True90% confidence7 sourcesOct 23, 2026Donald Trump replaced Bill Barr with Jeffrey Rosen as Attorney General.Said by AMultiple tier1 sources (AP, Reuters, PolitiFact) and tier2 sources (NPR, PBS) confirm that after Attorney General William Barr publicly stated there was no evidence of election fraud, Trump's Attorney General position passed to Jeffrey Rosen, who was Barr's deputy and was named by Trump as Barr's replacement in December 2020. The sources describe Rosen as acting rather than formally confirmed AG, a detail that does not defeat the core claim, and the claim faithfully reflects the passage's assertion that Trump replaced Barr with Rosen.True90% confidence6 sourcesOct 23, 2026Top leaders at the Justice Department threatened to resign if Donald Trump replaced Jeffrey Rosen.Said by AMultiple tier1 and tier2 sources (AP, Reuters, PolitiFact, NPR, NBC, CBS) report that top Justice Department leaders threatened mass resignation if Trump replaced acting AG Jeffrey Rosen, and that Trump backed down. The post's 'unanimously' and 'top leaders' wording is consistent with reporting that most of DOJ leadership threatened to resign en masse; the claim is a faithful paraphrase of the passage.True78% confidence6 sourcesOct 23, 2026Attorney General Todd Blanch stated that he works for President Trump and is not independent.Said by 2CMultiple outlets quote Attorney General Todd Blanche on October 21, 2026, saying "I work for President Trump" and dismissing the idea of DOJ independence from the White House as a "misperception," which supports the claim's core. The claim's phrase "is not independent" is a paraphrase of his rejection of independence (his literal "I don't [suffer from independence]" is awkwardly worded), and the sources read it that way; the statement was made on Wednesday, October 21, not the day before the post's date, which does not change the verdict.True65% confidence8 sourcesOct 23, 2026Donald Trump won Mississippi by 24 points in 2024.Said by ATrump won Mississippi in 2024 by about 23 points, with certified results showing 60.9% to 38.0%, a 22.9-point margin. The claim's 24-point figure is about one point high, which is casual imprecision rather than a contradiction; the only source showing roughly 24 points is a partial-count snapshot.True90% confidence9 sourcesOct 23, 2026Scott Colum is the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Mississippi.Said by AAs of 2026-10-23, multiple sources confirm Scott Colom was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Mississippi, having won the Democratic primary in March 2026 (Newsweek, 67.2% when called) and being repeatedly described as the Democratic nominee in October coverage (NPR, Sun Herald, ABC, The Root). The claim is accurately extracted from the passage and no source contradicts it.True90% confidence7 sourcesOct 23, 2026Cindy Hyde-Smith is the incumbent Republican Senator for Mississippi.Said by AAs of 2026-10-23, Cindy Hyde-Smith was the sitting Republican U.S. Senator for Mississippi seeking re-election, as shown by the congress.gov record, the CAWP primary results, and multiple October 2026 candidate guides describing her as the incumbent. The extracted claim matches the passage's own wording ('Incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde smith'), with only a spelling variant in the surname, and no source contradicts it; by November 2 she remained the incumbent in the race.True75% confidence6 sourcesOct 23, 2026Senate Democrats' campaign arm has spent over a million dollars to boost Scott Colom's campaign.Said by AAs of 2026-10-23, AP and Politico reported that Senate Majority PAC, the Democratic-aligned super PAC that AP describes as Senate Democrats' top campaign spending group, committed $1.2 million in television ads to boost Scott Colom, with the ad starting that week. The main caveat is that the separate DSCC buy of $500,000 came later, on Oct 28, and does not affect the claim's date.True55% confidence6 sourcesOct 23, 2026Scott Colom has conducted over 60 town halls over the last year.Said by 3DThe claim matches the extraction faithfully, and several outlets report Colom's count as 60 or more town halls, with one saying at least 75 as of October 8. However, these figures trace back to Colom's own statements and no independent tally verifies them, and the sources do not address the 'over the last year' timeframe.True60% confidence5 sourcesOct 23, 2026Cindy Hyde-Smith refuses to participate in debates.Said by AAs of 2026-10-23, sources show Hyde-Smith had not agreed to any of the debates Colom challenged her to, and her campaign dismissed the challenge as a 'debate about debates'; a Prospect report of 2026-11-02 says she 'has refused to debate.' The claim matches the post's wording, but no source quotes her directly refusing, and one interview-based source notes Colom did issue invitations, so confidence is moderate.True85% confidence7 sourcesOct 23, 2026No Democrat has been elected to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi since 1982.Said by AMultiple sources state that Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982, when John Stennis was last re-elected, and the 1996–2024 results show only Republican winners. The claim's wording matches the passage, with 'from Mississippi' supplied by the post's context.True90% confidence7 sourcesOct 23, 2026Scott Colom supports raising the minimum wage.Said by 3DMultiple independent sources, including a candidate's own campaign page, Sun Herald and WAPT/Enterprise-Journal reporting, and a 2026 voters guide, show Scott Colom advocates raising the federal minimum wage (from $7.25). The claim's extraction from the passage ('vote for Scott Clon' to 'fight for higher wages by raising the minimum wage') is a faithful reading of the post's own content, and the post itself is a candidate-ally endorsement rather than evidence; as of 2026-10-23 the position was consistently reported.