Jen Psaki struggled to keep her tears in check on Wednesday while covering the school shooting in Minnesota. Eventually, the MSNBC host was able to compose herself, but then she got angry.
At least two children were killed and 14 others were injured on Wednesday afternoon — three adults were injured as well — when a shooter in Minneapolis opened fire on Annunciation Catholic School. It was the first week of school, and according to CNN, the incident marked the 44th school shooting in 2025.
Getting into the story on Wednesday night, Psaki noted that she’d been thinking a lot about her own kids following the shooting. Her children are around the same age as the two that were killed, so she was thinking of every family navigating returns to school this week. But as she did, Psaki was overcome by tears.
“And all they should be hoping to do is have someone to sit with at lunch, or someone to play with on the playground, and they should be waiting to hear an update when they get home,” she said, fighting through. “And that is not what these parents at the school experienced today. Sorry, this is a tough one.”
“Having your child killed while they are sitting in a pew for a morning prayer service is not what any parent should have to worry about,” Psaki continued, still struggling. “And I have felt a mixture of anger, a lot of anger, and emotional exhaustion about this today, as I’m sure many of you have, because we have been here so many times.”
From there, Psaki was able to compose herself, leaning into her anger — specifically at politicians who “have little more to offer than thoughts and prayers.”
The host called out the process that unfolds “over and over again,” before adding that there would be, and already are, “narratives” being perpetuated because the shooter identified as a transgender woman, appeared to be anti-Semitic and more. That said, Psaki pointed out that there are trans people everywhere, as well as people with politically motivated hate.
“But this is the only country where shootings like this one happen this often,” she said. Psaki then pointed to past shootings in the U.S., shaming Republican politicians for always offering thoughts and prayers but never any gun reform or control.
“Now, clearly our nation’s gun laws are not enough,” she said. “But that means that if politicians actually want to do something to stop these shootings, there is a lot left for them to do. But thoughts and prayers alone are not going to cut it.”
You can watch Psaki’s full segment in the video above.
