Jen Psaki uses troop interviews to blow up JD Vance's 'happier than ever' claim

Vice President JD Vance is doing everything in his power to whitewash what the Iran war is doing not only to civilians, but to our own troops, MS NOW's Jen Psaki said on Thursday's edition of "The Briefing."

Psaki started with a searing overview of Vance's defense of a recent U.S. strike that hit a wedding.

As for Vance's assertion today that the U.S. is investigating the strike, remember, the Trump administration had a similar line after a strike hit a girls elementary school in Iran this February ... while plenty of Western news outlets were methodically proving that the U.S. was in fact, responsible, the administration just stuck its head in the sand." The troops themselves, she said, found that "maddening" with the incident triggering a surge in conscientious objector claims.

Moreover, said Psaki, one person helping service members do this reports that "unlike at other times in U.S. history, when conscientious objectors were typically junior service members, a lot of his clients today are people who have been in the military for more than a decade."

"Vance's lying here isn't just misleading the public. It isn't just disgraceful and offensive," said Psaki. "It is also part of a larger pattern of lies and directives from this administration that are demoralizing many of our troops. But Vance is even lying about that. He's claiming with a full throat that our troops are happier than ever before under Trump's leadership." She played the clip.

"When you go out and talk to troops today, they talk about how much better it is, how much prouder they are, how much more they feel supported by Washington as opposed to, frankly, oppressed by Washington," said Vance in the clip.

Contrary to that, said Psaki, MS NOW reporter Priya Sridhar went to speak to U.S. troops, "and the ones she spoketo are definitely not sayingthat" following the end of the mission for the USS Abraham Lincoln, which for months was a horror show for Navy sailors.

"Twosailors who have been in theNavy for more than ten yearstold her that they had been onmultiple deployments, but thatthis one had been far worsethan most, by far the worst of their Navy careers," said Psaki. "They said that they are worried that longer deployments and fewer port calls would become routine for the Navy, and that fewer sailors would re-enlist. They said they believe morale is suffering because of these longer and harder deployments."

All of this, she added, "is very different from the story the vice president is trying to sell to the American public."

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