Rachel Maddow Twists Trump’s Iran Justification, Spreads Unverified DOJ Demotion Story

A short 2-minute, 22-second clip from Rachel Maddow’s June 23, 2025, MSNBC broadcast offers two clear examples of how she selectively relies on outdated or unverified information to portray President Trump and Republicans in a negative light — while ignoring key facts that undermine her narrative.

First, Maddow criticizes Trump for ordering a strike on Iran, claiming he did so after disregarding U.S. intelligence. She mocks Trump for asserting that Iran was on the brink of developing a nuclear weapon and implies he acted recklessly without intelligence support. What she omits is a key update from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. By June 2025, Gabbard publicly stated that U.S. intelligence assessed Iran could produce a nuclear weapon “within weeks to months” if it chose to proceed. She also clarified that her earlier testimony had been misrepresented by the media and confirmed that her current assessment aligned with Trump’s concerns. Maddow ignores this critical update, relying instead on outdated claims to falsely suggest Trump acted without credible intelligence.

Second, Maddow repeats an unconfirmed report from April 2025 alleging that Trump demoted Devin DeBacker, the acting head of the DOJ’s National Security Division, because he failed to quickly replace a portrait of President Biden with one of Trump. This anecdote comes from a single Bloomberg Law report and has not been corroborated by any other credible source. Yet Maddow presents it as fact, reinforcing a narrative of Trump as petty and vindictive — all without acknowledging that the story remains unverified.

Maddow’s reporting in this brief clip exemplifies a broader pattern: using outdated, selectively framed, or uncorroborated stories to push a partisan narrative, even when facts contradict her.