MS NOW host Jen Psaki on Tuesday poked some rather sizable holes in the “weird lying” from President Donald Trump in recent days about his ongoing war on Iran, offering two theories before arguing the truth is a combination of both.

“I’m just going to turn to Donald Trump’s latest attempts to sell his disastrous war of choice in Iran, because despite the fact that this war is incredibly unpopular with the American people,” said Psaki before adding, “Donald Trump is now claiming that his war got, well, a surprise endorsement from a former president.”

The “Briefing” host went on to play a clip of Trump telling reporters Monday that one of his former predecessors privately expressed regret about not attacking Iran as he did. The MAGA leader said at the time, “He said, ‘I wish I did it, I wish I did,’ but they didn’t do it.”

Psaki returned to her viewers by teasing, “OK, a lot packed in there. Trump says a former president wishes he would have started this war with Iran. The former president is so jealous, he wishes he could have been as powerful and bold as Donald Trump.”

She continued, “Wishes he could have been the one to plunge the United States into an open-ended conflict with a country of 93 million people without feeling, really, the responsibility at all to think through any of the consequences, as Trump has not thought through.”

Psaki noted that there are only four living former U.S. presidents; that MS NOW contacted representatives for Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden; that The Wall Street Journal covered George W. Bush; and that all of them confirmed they haven’t spoken to Trump about Iran.

“So why is Donald Trump claiming that a former president told him he was super jealous of Trump’s war?” Psaki asked. “Is the current president lying? I mean, entirely possible. Is he confused? Is he both lying and confused?”

She added, “I mean, my money, my gut is really on option C — as in, both. But honestly, we don’t know. What we do know is that this whole weird lying about a conversation with a former president episode is part of a pattern. This is not a one-off.”

Psaki reminded viewers that Trump lied on Monday when he said nobody in his administration warned him that Iran might retaliate to U.S. strikes by attacking American allies in the region, when the Iranian government openly confirmed as much in February.

“They absolutely did know that Iran would attack those Gulf countries,” stated Psaki.

“It would have been a natural part of any briefing,” she said. “But Trump claims they were all shocked. On another example — I have more, I have more — here was Donald Trump yesterday talking about the possibility that Iran has placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Psaki went on to play a clip of Trump claiming that his administration is “not sure” and that they “don’t know” whether Iran has placed mines in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes. She quickly exposed this as yet another baffling lie from Trump.

“He says that the U.S. government does not know if Iran is laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz,” Psaki explained. “He says there may be no mines set, none whatsoever. It’s a mystery. It’s a mystery to Trump. Of course, it’s really not a mystery at all.”

She continued, “I mean, here’s the headline from The New York Times: ‘U.S. Officials Say Iran Is Laying Mines in the Strait of Hormuz.’ U.S. officials. Now, according to the Times, we do know the answer to this question — and that’s according to U.S. officials.”

That article, published last week, is readily available for the president here.

Psaki stated earlier in the segment just how “incredibly unpopular” Trump’s war really is, noting that it’s driving up gas prices and “fracturing” the GOP. She appeared genuinely shocked at his lie about the strait, however, and said, “And the answer is yes.”

Then Psaki added, “Iran is absolutely laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Watch the full “Briefing” segment on MS NOW’s YouTube account.

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