MSNBC’s Jen Psaki warns President Donald Trump could “rig” upcoming U.S. elections.
The “Briefing” host on Tuesday cited his latest approval ratings and the hiring of Heather Honey, a “rabid election denier” who claimed the 2020 election was stolen — and was just appointed to a new “election integrity” post at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Psaki played a clip of Trump claiming in a speech to his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, that Pennsylvania had “205,000 more votes than you had voters” and calling the 2020 election “a total fraud,” but said he didn’t come up with that narrative on his own.
“He got it from this woman, Heather Honey,” Psaki said Tuesday. “Honey is an absolutely rabid election denier, a conspiracy theorist and a protégé of Cleta Mitchell, one of the lawyers who tried and failed to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results.”
The news host continued, “Honey, in particular, misrepresented voter data to sell the idea that Pennsylvania somehow had more votes than voters, which was not at all true.” Psaki then noted that Trump nonetheless “cited it as proof” as recently as last year that the election was stolen.
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Honey runs an auditing firm called Haystack Investigations and has led several research groups that have promoted flawed election data analyses since 2020. She is now the deputy assistant secretary for election integrity, a position first reported by Democracy Docket on Monday.
“You heard me right,” Psaki said after sharing the news.
“A senior role in Trump’s Department of Homeland Security that is supposed to primarily protect our elections from foreign interference, which is an ongoing threat no matter who is president. Let that soak in for a second,” she added.
Psaki argued that all the pieces for Trump to interfere in future elections are already moving into place, as he has “gutted” the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency and disbanded the Foreign Influence Task Force, which were designed to shield U.S. election integrity.
She then stated that Trump’s approval ratings are “completely in the toilet” as a result of his “big, beautiful bill.” Psaki cited a new Gallup poll that showed 63% of Americans currently believe the U.S. economy is only getting worse.
“That’s two-thirds of the country who agree on very little,” she said. “And if you believe you can’t win votes honestly and with integrity — and by the way, getting more people to vote for you, which is how you win elections — this is what you do to hold onto power.”
Trump has made numerous comments about potentially running for a third, unconstitutional term. Psaki noted that he’s currently threatening to ban mail ballots and encouraging governors and lawmakers in Republican states to redraw their congressional maps.
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It’s “obvious” why Honey was hired by the Trump administration, Psaki said, and argued that it’s not because the conservative election denier “has some sort of immaculate record of protecting voting systems against security threats.”
Psaki concluded, “She’s in this job because of her connection to Trump, who used her lies to his advantage and who may now continue to do so in elections to come.”
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