The Briefing With Jen Psaki 4/29/26 — MSNBC Breaking News Today April 29, 2026

[0:00] probably some maybe you saw all of it maybe you saw some of it i watched all of it today the [0:05] secretary of defense testified to congress for the first time since his boss started a war with no [0:10] stated purpose no strategy and no clear end game 58 days ago and during that testimony in front of [0:17] the house armed services committee pete hexath reminded all of us that during this time of war [0:23] we have the most unqualified the most unprepared and the most clownish person ever to serve in that [0:31] role do you think we're winning militarily on the battlefield it's been an astounding military [0:38] success but are we winning the war absolutely okay so do you call iran closing the strait of [0:44] hormuz winning well i would say the blockade that we hold that doesn't allow anything to come in or [0:50] out of iranian ports okay so always so we've blockaded their blockade so they blockaded us [0:55] and then we blockaded their blockade that's like saying tag you're it i mean what i mean good on [1:03] congressman molten for keeping a straight face during that exchange of course but it didn't stop there [1:08] there's much more and before i believe this next one remember for months now months hegseth and the [1:14] entire trump administration have justified the need for the war with iran by saying that iran was [1:19] dangerously close to developing a nuclear weapon that's that's been their mantra now today hegseth [1:25] couldn't seem to keep that story straight their nuclear facilities have been obliterated [1:31] underground they're buried and watching them 24 7. so we know where any nuclear material [1:37] be claiming my time for watching a second here we had to start this war you just said 60 days ago [1:45] because the nuclear weapon was an imminent threat now you're saying that it was completely obliterated [1:51] they had not given up their nuclear ambitions i mean the look on adam smith's face says it all [1:59] okay so with that logic bombing is not about destroying the facilities it's about making them [2:04] give up their ambitions through bombing how does that work exactly and then there's what he had to [2:10] say about the cost of the war today we of course and you all probably experienced this saw gas prices [2:16] hit a new high for the year they're now at an average of four dollars and 23 cents a gallon and [2:22] that is impacting every single person who drives a car everyone in normal times which we are certainly [2:27] not in not suggesting that today's testimony by the secretary of defense would have been an opportunity [2:33] to at least try to convey that the administration is on it that there's a plan they're working on pete [2:39] hegseth wasn't exactly up to that task either in fact hegseth didn't know if his 25 billion dollar [2:46] price tag for the war so far even included the cost to rebuild the u.s bases that around destroyed nor [2:52] the cost of replenishing the munitions that are now reportedly in very short supply and he also [2:58] couldn't say how much this war was costing the american people will you acknowledge the economic cost [3:05] we have an incredible economic team that's managing this better than yeah but what the previous [3:10] administration did to our economy you acknowledge the previous administration did you don't even [3:14] know what the you know what's upsetting i reclaimed my time and you're going to lecture this [3:18] administration about the economy you know what is upsetting incredible you didn't even do the [3:23] analysis on how much it's costing the american people you don't even know what the average [3:27] american is paying you don't know what we paid in terms of the missiles that hit the iranian [3:32] school you don't know what we're paying in terms of gas you don't know what we're paying in [3:35] terms of food your 25 billion number is totally off it's the incompetence it's the incompetence [3:43] which pete hegseth had a little chuckle for and watching all that it's really no wonder that [3:49] donald trump just hit the lowest approval rating he has had so far this term a new poll from reuters [3:54] episode shows a whopping 64 of americans don't approve of how he is running the country 61 of americans [4:01] now say they do not approve of this war 69 of americans do not approve of trump's handling of [4:07] the cost of living people aren't happy with the trump administration to put it mildly especially [4:13] because during a time of so much pain across the country the president is focused on things that [4:18] help absolutely no one like building a ballroom and trying to get jimmy kimmel taken off the air [4:26] what do you make of the request for a ballroom right now i really don't think it's important right [4:35] now do you think the ballroom should be the focus of the president right now no sir i think that's [4:39] the last thing that we should be worrying about there's a lot of things we need to work on before [4:42] we're doing a ballroom the president's talking about a ballroom and jimmy kimmel he shouldn't be [4:47] doing it i mean he's a comedian it's just a joke i wouldn't uh get offended you know about that that [4:53] video at all i think he likes to take take away free speech when he doesn't agree with what is said [4:59] four dollars and 19 cents a gallon i mean what do you guys make of that i think it's crazy it's insane [5:06] you know you have to choose whether you uh drive or eat and i know our president has said like [5:13] different things about oh it's fine it'll be fine but you know it's not fine maybe we ought to get our [5:19] priorities straight now a president with this level of unpopularity is simply not penable for a political [5:29] party anytime and certainly not six months out from the midterm elections but rather than change [5:34] policies in an attempt to become more popular with voters you know building support among the people [5:40] you're trying to get to vote for you it appears the republican plan and they're not new to this [5:44] plan i should just note is to make the country less democratic so that the opinions of the voters [5:51] matter less so that fewer people have their voices heard and today the conservative justices on [5:57] the supreme court made that plan a whole lot easier because today in a 6-3 decision along [6:02] partisan lines the court gutted a key provision of the 1965 voting rights act making it easier for [6:08] republicans to gerrymander congressional maps in ways that could disenfranchise black voters and i just [6:15] want to take a moment to tell the story of the map at the center of the case louisiana's congressional [6:19] map because i think it really helps show just the impact of today's ruling what this is really all [6:25] about the 2020 census found that about one-third of the population of louisiana was black but when [6:31] the largely white republican majority in the louisiana state legislator used that data to make [6:36] new congressional maps guess what they drew five majority white districts and just one majority black [6:42] district so even though black voters made up one-third of the population in the state they were likely [6:48] only able to elect one-sixth of its representatives now black voters in louisiana stood over that map [6:54] they should have and they won a federal court ordered louisiana to draw a new map with two [6:59] majority black districts but then a group of white voters countersued saying that the new map one that [7:05] gave the state what the state's one-third black population one-third of the congressional seats [7:10] was actually discriminatory against them and today conservatives on the supreme court agreed with that [7:16] logic deciding against history and legal precedent that the map was an illegal gerrymander but of course [7:24] like all supreme court cases this decision was not just about the case before the court it was not [7:30] just about louisiana at all now because of this ruling if voters want to sue arguing that their [7:35] congressional map discriminates against them because of their race they have to prove not just that [7:40] the impact of the map is discriminatory but that the people who drew the map intended to discriminate [7:45] against them because of their race so in the case of louisiana that would mean you couldn't just [7:51] show how the map clearly diluted the power of black voters one-third of the state giving them [7:56] one less representative than they should have you would have to somehow prove that the lawmakers [8:00] who drew that map did it with racist intent and that is nearly impossible to do and i say that not [8:07] because it sounds hard in the abstract but because well we have been here before today in her dissent [8:13] justice kagan explained why relying on intent has never been enough and how situations just like [8:19] what republicans did with their maps in louisiana are why congress passed the voting rights act to [8:24] begin with here's part of what she said in the wake of the civil war congress enacted and the states [8:29] ratified the 15th amendment to ensure the enfranchisement of black americans but in the century that [8:34] followed the 15th amendment proved little more than a parchment promise violence and intimidation were [8:40] ever-present ways to deny black citizens their right to vote but often force was not needed because [8:46] state laws could well enough accomplish that goal especially in the south states soon put in place [8:51] a host of facially racial race neutral devices to systematically disenfranchise african-american [8:59] citizens poll taxes literary literacy tests good character exams property qualifications convoluted [9:06] registration processes by the way we're seeing that again today all these and more when combined with [9:11] administrative discretion effectively suppress the black vote without much affecting the white one [9:17] louisiana's post reconstruction rules to cite the most pertinent example took less than a decade to [9:22] drive the number of black registered voters from 130 000 to just over 1 300. that's why congress passed [9:30] the voting rights act supposedly rates neutral tricks like louisiana getting rid of a black district [9:35] through partisan gerrymandering those are the exact kind of lawmakers tricks lawmakers had in mind when they [9:42] passed the viere into law and when it's been renewed over and over again and the law worked [9:47] it increased black representation in our government immediately made our country more of a true democracy [9:52] but the supreme court's ruling today could undo so much of that progress [9:57] this is the balance of power between republicans and democrats in congress in the american south today [10:02] you can see the map right on your screen obviously red republican blue democrats where black voters [10:06] predominantly vote for democrats and where democrats have 24 of those house seats [10:10] the new york times predicts that democrats could eventually over time lose around half of those [10:15] seats because of today's supreme court ruling and as dark as that is i think it's also a call to action [10:23] the voting rights act wasn't just passed by congress because it was the right thing to do [10:28] civil rights leaders like martin luther king jr had spent years years laying the groundwork for the law [10:34] getting arrested for registering voters getting beaten and even killed for having the audacity to demand [10:39] what the 15th amendment was supposed to guarantee them as justice kagan put it in her dissent today [10:44] it was born of the literal blood of union soldiers and civil rights marchers that's that's what we're [10:50] talking about right now so tonight i couldn't think of anyone i wanted to hear from more i wanted to [10:55] talk to more and you may have seen some of what he had to already say about this than the pastor who [10:59] now preaches at the same pulpit once held by martin luther king jr joining me now is democratic senator [11:05] raphael warnak of georgia he's of course also the senior pastor at ebenezer baptist church it's great [11:12] to see you i saw we've already said on this today which is incredibly powerful for people watching [11:17] tonight wondering um and i think a lot of people are wondering maybe they're coming home from work [11:21] they're tuning in broadly what the impact of this this is and in practical terms too what do you tell [11:27] them well thank you so much i i am thinking about martin luther king jr tonight um ebenezer is the [11:34] spiritual home of voting rights and john lewis who was my parishioner uh we should be very clear [11:41] that what happened today was uh an assault against the crown achievement of the civil rights movement [11:48] the voting rights act without which i literally would not be sitting here talking to you as the [11:53] united states senator from georgia and um uh the supreme court did the democracy a terrible disservice [12:01] today i think what you you said earlier in your in your remarks is is spot on these efforts to uh [12:09] effectively disenfranchise black voters has always even during the darkest days of the jim crow era [12:18] claimed to be race race neutral you had the 15th amendment by the time we got the voting rights act [12:24] black people theoretically had a right to vote for 100 years when the 15th amendment was passed but [12:30] through literacy tests through grandfather clauses through poll taxes they effectively disenfranchised [12:38] black voters this is just the 21st version 21st century version this this is jim crow in new clothes [12:46] uh this supreme court is it is an activist court they did us a terrible disservice several years ago [12:53] in the shelby versus holder decision and uh justice roberts opined back then that you know this is not [13:02] necessary well what have we seen since then since that decision the racial voter turnout gap has increased [13:11] all over the country and i think it's important for me to stress that jen because you know i'm sitting [13:15] here and people say you got the first black senator from george you've had a black president here is the [13:19] reality the racial turnout gap since shelby versus hold in 2013 has widened all of all over the country [13:28] and in the south in the states that required pre-clearance because of a history of discrimination [13:35] that gap has grown twice as far twice it's grown grown twice as fast we're all entitled to our own opinion [13:43] we're not entitled to our own facts and the numbers and the facts bear it out today was one more assault [13:50] uh shelby says you know we'll make it well you know you can you can engage in in disenfranchisement [13:57] practices which has decreased uh or increased the gap and voter turnout today's decision says that even [14:04] when non-white voters show up in robust numbers we're giving you permission uh to play with the lines [14:13] because it's all gerrymandering is to play with the lines so that even as they show up they will not have [14:19] the kind of representation that their voice suggests that they ought to have and uh the proof is in the [14:25] pudding they are busy right now supercharging uh uh redistricting there are people in my state even [14:32] though early voting has already begun so i'm saying we ought to we ought to do something about that we [14:36] ought to redraw the maps uh the bottom line is donald trump is doing a terrible job as president uh his [14:43] policies are unpopular they're making his policies are making it expensive for people to afford their lives and [14:49] they're in my state gas is up energy is up tariffs on everything and they want to hold on to power no [14:58] matter what and it doesn't matter to me their intent may not be explicitly racial this is about [15:04] politicians trying to hold on to their power so they will disenfranchise black voters they'll [15:09] disenfranchise students they will do whatever is necessary to hold on to power i've seen it in my own [15:15] races for the senate i know you have and i remember them ending early voting the weekend before your [15:23] election i remember them banning bringing water to people i had to take them to court so that people [15:29] could vote the first weekend of the uh runoff election and state officials in georgia said oh it's [15:36] just a plain letter of the law you just can't vote that weekend and so i they said our hands are tied so i [15:41] untied their hands i sued them and we won and instead of celebrating that their hands were untied [15:47] they appealed they showed their hands so it took a lawsuit two appeals just so students who were home [15:55] for the thanksgiving break for example could vote in my own runoff 77 000 people voted that weekend i won [16:02] by about a hundred thousand votes this is how voter suppression works you you undermine the strength of [16:09] ordinary voters a little bit here a little bit there a little bit here and that's how you move [16:16] the outcome of elections donald trump is desperate and the trump court just made it easier for him to [16:24] hold on to power no matter what here's how we've got to respond we've got to show up in in massive [16:30] numbers and ultimately and i offer this to my republican colleagues ultimately what we ought to do is we [16:38] ought to ban gerrymandering we want to ban partisan gerrymandering it is a disservice to our country [16:45] that there are so few competitive congressional districts in in our country all the folks who are [16:51] watching me now even if you don't agree with my politics all of us americans on both sides of the [16:56] aisle are tired of the dysfunction in our congress and the fact that you can't get anything done well what [17:03] partisan gerrymandering is a big part of of why we're there it is the reason why mike johnson won't [17:10] even put a bill on the floor right now that would pass it's already passed the senate it would pass the [17:15] house why because a few extreme members in his caucus have frightened him to death he's afraid of losing [17:22] his speakership and why does that exist because of extreme partisan gerrymandering i have a bill i have [17:30] an amendment that i offered that would shut that down and so far i've had no republican takers not a [17:36] single one let me ask you i re-watched your speech or your i should say what you said from the pulpit [17:43] in your church at eboniester baptist church the weekend after the election today i think it was the [17:48] weekend after and it struck me because what was on your shoulders was meeting where people were feeling [17:55] and also giving them hope about what is forward what are you going to say when you go speak to [18:01] your parishioners people in your congregation this weekend the greatest tool in in my spiritual arsenal [18:08] is hope and look we we will lose a battle here and there we'll win some we'll lose some here here is the [18:17] the war that we can't afford to lose and that that is the battle between hope and despair and so the [18:24] trump administration is doing a lot of things they're putting these tariffs on everything which [18:29] is raising the cost uh for for everyday goods which disproportionately hurts middle class people [18:36] poor people uh he is dividing us in every way that he can think of he supercharged this redistricting [18:43] war that we're in the middle of and democrats right now have no choice they've got to engage can't [18:49] unilaterally disarm and we'll win some of those things we'll lose some we cannot allow those who are [18:55] trying to weaponize despair to win we have to hold on to hope john lewis was my parishioner he had [19:01] no reason to think that he would win crossing that edmund pettus bridge with with brute force under the [19:07] color of law on the other side of that bridge but he just kept walking and so i say to folks who who [19:14] want uh an america that's big enough for all of our children to keep walking he walked across that bridge [19:20] built the bridge in the process and decades later i crossed that bridge into the united states senate [19:26] hold on to hope no matter what fight for our democracy is worth it keep walking i will be [19:31] tuning in for some hope from you this sunday i know others will too thank you for being here i really [19:37] was looking forward to talking to you about all this today thank you uh my next guest had a very [19:43] simple message for his republican opponents today we are not going to let them prevail this is really [19:48] a continuation of the conversation i've just been having with senator warnock because i'm going to speak [19:52] with house democratic leader hakeem jeffries next he's standing by we're going to talk about all of [19:57] this what this means for control of the house how he's going to fight back today just as the supreme [20:07] court released its decision to gut the voting rights act lawmakers in florida were debating a new proposal [20:13] to rig that state's maps in favor of republicans gerrymandering illegal map making designed to favor one [20:24] party over another the real reason this is happening is because yes florida's trying to rig these maps [20:31] to keep trump's republican party in power how do i know this i have two eyes i have two ears and i [20:40] have a brain this is a blatant illegal partisan gerrymander this map is illegal this illegal map have [20:46] i mentioned this is illegal maybe i should mention it again this is illegal this is about relinquishing [20:54] our power and giving it to the president because when you can't persuade the people when you can't [21:00] inspire the voters when you can't defend your record when you can't ignore the epstein files you change [21:05] the map democrats spoke out against the bill all afternoon i played you a bunch of it there and when [21:12] the time came to vote in the state house one member even disrupted the vote by shouting through a pink [21:18] bullhorn you can see it on your screen there but despite all of those objections the bill passed through [21:23] both the state house and state senate where there's a republican majorities and will soon be signed [21:27] into law by governor de santos and there may be more republican redistricting efforts on the way [21:31] in response to the supreme court's new ruling several republican controlled states are now [21:35] considering holding special sessions to redraw their maps ahead of the midterms just days ago it [21:41] appeared democrats successfully managed to hold republicans to a stalemate in the redistricting wars [21:46] maybe they have but with these latest developments out of florida in the supreme court it's clear [21:50] the fight is not over here's uh democratic leader hakim jeffries responding to the ruling earlier today [21:57] they've tried to do everything that they can to eliminate and erase our journey our struggle our [22:07] march in this country toward a more perfect union and now we're at a point where affirmative action is [22:16] gone diversity is gone equity gone inclusion gone racial tolerance gone the voting rights act largely gone [22:26] but guess what extremists we're still here and we're not going anywhere we will not let their [22:33] scheme to rig the midterm election and beyond be successful joining me now is house democratic leader [22:40] hakim jeffries okay so i think when we all saw the ruling come down today i mean it shook a lot of us to [22:46] the core probably shook you um not that it was necessarily unexpected but it threw into question so much of [22:53] what many people have fought for for decades um over the course of time and i think for a lot of [22:58] people just on the technicalities of it they made them freak out like it's going to put make it harder [23:02] to win the house i know today i mean i remember referenced earlier the new york times said that this [23:07] could result in half of the in a dozen seats lost to democrats and south over the course of time that's [23:12] not immediate mark elias said today it could be more like two seats at risk leading up to november as [23:18] you're thinking about the nitty-gritty of this you have a lot of skin in the game here you could be the [23:22] house speaker soon enough how many seats are you do you think this could impact uh leading up to [23:27] november well it was a totally despicable decision in terms of gutting section 2 in the voting rights [23:35] act which up until this point had been the preeminent piece of civil rights legislation in american history [23:43] as part of our march toward a more perfect union and achieving a multi-racial democracy and there was [23:48] a lot of sacrifice a lot of people bled people died to actually get to a point where you had an [23:54] unfettered right to vote that was free of racial discrimination and intimidation and the supreme [24:00] court majority of course has just ushered that back in in part because they are doing everything [24:08] they can it appears to artificially give donald trump a republican majority in the congress and in the [24:16] senate which of course he's at risk of losing because his presidency has been a disaster and the [24:22] republicans have been nothing but sycophants and rubber stamps for donald trump's extreme agenda we're [24:27] going to make sure that there's a free and fair election in november and this voting rights decision [24:33] by the supreme court has come late enough in the process that i agree entirely with mark elias that at [24:39] the end of the day at best it may give the republicans an additional seat or two [24:44] in advance of november of 2026 and then we got to battle it out in connection with 2028 so i want [24:52] to get there in just one second there's i just want to ask you two about the florida because florida [24:56] just passed of course this redistricting effort today uh that could garner them a couple of additional [25:02] seats in florida you kind of threatened maximum warfare i think it was last week you said that [25:08] just in that specific case what does that look like i know there's a question of like who has standing [25:13] to file a lawsuit what's the next steps there to even fight that particular effort well they're [25:19] going to be floater voters who are going to file a lawsuit as soon as desantis signs uh this gerrymandering [25:25] scheme into law because the florida voters in 2010 enacted the fair districts amendment that explicitly [25:34] prohibits partisan gerrymandering and explicitly prohibits communities of interest towns and villages and [25:41] cities and counties from being broken up particularly to benefit one party which was done in this [25:48] instance the republican party and to target democratic incumbents who were elected by the people of [25:54] florida and so this map is blatantly illegal and unconstitutional and we're going to pursue every [26:02] litigation avenue and state court that is available to the voters at the same period of time as was done in [26:10] texas this desantis dummy mander is going to create additional opportunities for democrats to defeat [26:17] republican incumbents while fighting hard to hold on to our democratic incumbents who were put into harm's [26:24] way they're not getting an additional four seats out of florida in the same way that texas republicans [26:31] are not getting an additional five seats out of texas particularly in this midterm election where [26:37] everything continues to break in our way because republicans have been a complete and total disaster [26:42] and we're continuing to center the people as it relates to our commitment to making their life [26:49] more affordable and driving down the high cost of living and they've miscalculated i mean this is this [26:53] could be the case in florida too even as they've even some republicans there have expressed that concern [26:58] so let's talk about because it's not that you that you and many people want to be want you to be the [27:03] house speaker it's also you want to stay house speaker and we're talking about a lot more seats [27:08] at risk leading up to 2028 there are a lot of things on the table that could be fighting back [27:12] i mean of course there would be fighting uh passing the john lewis voting rights advancement act but trump [27:17] is not still going to be in office he's not going to sign that there is additional redistricting efforts [27:22] that could be undertaken but some of those could impact i mean majority minority districts potentially [27:28] how do you think about the balance of those things what are the tools that you are willing to [27:33] deploy in this maximum warfare effort well the congressional black caucus will continue to [27:39] lead in this effort and will partner with them with the congressional hispanic caucus uh the [27:44] congressional asian and pacific american caucus but here's an important thing to understand when [27:49] you've seen these caucuses grow over time the growth has largely come in districts that aren't majority [27:58] minority in fact many asian american latino and african american congress members right now represent [28:06] swing districts that we've repeatedly flipped with respect to the cbc right now there are 56 members of [28:13] the congressional black caucus in the house four in the senate but of those 56 only 11 represent majority [28:22] black districts only 11 and you have at least 15 or 20 who are representing districts that are about 15 [28:31] percent or less african american population community so we have the ability as has been demonstrated [28:38] repeatedly to get elected in communities that are diverse all across the country and to put the american [28:45] people first regardless of race and will retain that ability notwithstanding what republicans may try [28:52] to do now the deep south has a history of intense racial discrimination and we're going to have to deal with [28:59] that in a variety of different ways including by recognizing the fact that this supreme court still [29:07] is going to have to contend with the 14th amendment and intentional discrimination claims that we can still bring [29:14] that's the reason why the governor of alabama today the republican conservative governor said our hands [29:20] are tied in alabama there's nothing that we can do to try to impact the two congressional districts that [29:27] are represented by african americans in the state of alabama because they are prohibited by the 14th [29:34] amendment from changing their map this is this fight is going to continue because they've decided that the [29:41] only way to win is to disenfranchise voters and make it harder to participate uh leader jeffries [29:47] thank you for being here i really appreciate it thank you okay coming up congressman pat ryan [29:51] absolutely eviscerated pete hegseth on capitol hill today catching him in what might be the most [29:57] disgusting lie he's told since the war with iran began i'm going to show you that remarkable exchange [30:02] and talk to pat ryan himself in just a moment we'll be right back