The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Incoming: Trump Fuels Wildfire Misinformation Days Out from Inauguration
Sun, 12 Jan 2025
Jen Psaki breaks down the latest updates on the deadly wildfires in southern California, including Donald Trump's efforts to place blame and distract the public rather than offer any real solutions. Jen shares her wide-ranging interview with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, covering Trump's promise to annex Canada as the 51st U.S. state, the assistance his country is offering to combat the ongoing wildfires, his decision to resign, and more. Next, Jen covers the latest in Trump's legal battles as efforts to hold him accountable come to a close, with Special Counsel Jack Smith quietly resigning and Trump being sentenced to an "unconditional discharge". Jen is joined by legal expert Andrew Weissmann to discuss what may be the final chapter in Trump's legal troubles, as well as the incoming President's promises to pardon January 6th defendants. Later, Jen breaks down the rampant disinformation about the wildfires being propagated by the right-wing that are making response efforts even more difficult. She is joined by The New York Times reporter David Wallace-Wells to discuss the real-world impact of the wildfires that continue to rage across Los Angeles county and how our society can mitigate and prevent similar disasters in the future. Finally, Jen interviews Representative Judy Chu, who represents a district affected by the wildfires, to share a glimpse into the diverse communities she represents who will now have to rebuild their entire lives in the wake of mass destruction.Check out our social pages below:https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsakihttps://www.instagram.com/InsideWithPsaki/https://www.tiktok.com/@insidewithpsakihttps://www.msnbc.com/jen-psaki
Chapter 1: What are the current updates on the California wildfires?
From a blame game over wildfires to threats of territorial expansion, elected officials here and foreign leaders everywhere are bracing for Donald Trump's return to office in eight days. Among them is Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, who joined me here in studio for a Sunday exclusive.
Plus, Trump is officially sentenced in New York, Jack Smith has officially resigned from the Justice Department, and Andrew Weissman is going to tell us what all of it means. And later, all those devastating wildfires continue to tear through Southern California. I'll talk to Congresswoman Judy Chu, who says the devastation in her district is beyond belief.
In just the last six days, more than 100,000 people have been forced from their homes. More than 12,000 structures have been destroyed. At least 16 people are dead, according to recent numbers, and many more are injured. All as a result of the wildfires tearing through Southern California. It is a completely devastating scene, all of the photos.
And we're not going to even know the full scope of the impact for some time. It's also a disaster that prompts a lot of questions about how this happened and what comes next. We're going to dig into a lot of that today as much as we can. But those are also the kind of questions, perhaps more importantly, that the next president should be spending his time on.
I mean, California is the most populous state in the country. Any incoming president of either party would drive everything to focus on how to prepare to help when he's inaugurated eight days from now. But that's not exactly Trump's approach today. I mean, he's blaming FEMA for having no money, which is not true.
He's blaming Governor Gavin Newsom for not approving a water restoration declaration, a declaration that Newsom's office says does not exist. He's even blaming a small endangered fish, saying Newsom deprived the area of water because he wanted to protect the fish. And while there is plenty of blame to go around, unfortunately, that's all Trump seems to have up his sleeve. Blame.
And all of this is just another reminder that when it comes to Donald Trump, he loves nothing more than having us all spend all of our time debating the validity of his accusations. He knows the crazy is distracting. The partisan attacks that he throws out there are complete catnip.
And the wilder the accusations, the more likely it is that we are talking about that instead of what he is or isn't prepared to do as president. I mean, at this point, we know Trump is going to take any chance he can get to name-call and bully and blame Gavin Newsom. We know that.
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Chapter 2: How is Trump responding to the wildfires?
But what doesn't get as much attention and what should get more attention is the possibility that Trump could actually threaten to withhold funding to California when he gets back in office. That is literally something, as crazy as it sounds, that MAGA whisperer Charlie Kirk suggested this week that Trump should do.
And when President Biden was asked this week if the Trump administration would continue his guarantee for the federal government to cover 100 percent of all costs to fight the fires, he offered this somewhat ominous answer. I'm not in a position to answer that question. I pray God they will. I pray to God they will.
That means I hope so, but I have no idea because who knows what that guy is going to do. And in an interview that aired just this morning on Meet the Press, Governor Newsom said Trump hasn't responded to his invitation to visit California and expressed real fear about Trump withholding funding when he gets back into office.
You did invite him to come out here. Have you had any response? No. Nothing. Multiple times, Mr. Trump has threatened to withhold aid for California wildfires, both as president and now again as president-elect. Are you worried that he might actually do that?
Well, I mean, he's done it in Utah. He's done it in Michigan. They did it in Puerto Rico. He did it to California back before I was even governor. I mean, it's what he said. He said, I'm not going to support the firefighting efforts. I'm not going to support the state of California as it relates to its emergency management. He made this pretty clear during the election. Unless they do my bidding.
See, if you're Gavin Newsom, you are dealing with insults and social media attacks, of course, but you're also dealing with the possibility that the incoming president is going to make it harder for the people in your state to recover. So there's the rhetoric, the insults and the trolling. We hear all that all the time.
And then there's the concerns we should actually be focused on, which is what Trump might actually do or refuse to do in some cases. It's a big reminder that we need to pay attention to Trump's potential actions over his words. And that's a useful way of thinking across the board right now. I mean, it's the same story with his legal problems, right? On Friday, Trump was sentenced in New York.
He received no actual punishment apart from being officially branded a convicted felon. But he still spent the day rambling against the judge and the justice system. All the same tax you've heard before. Nothing new. But again, that was all predictable. We know by now that Trump is going to complain about his legal problems. We know he's going to lob crazy insults and late-night true socials.
What we really need to start paying more attention to is the fact that soon, in eight days, he might actually use the Justice Department to go after these prosecutors. And after confirmation hearings starting next week, he might even have the exact people in place to help him do that. There's a similar story unfolding with Trump's secret obsession with territorial expansion, of all things.
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