diff --git a/cli/medperf/comms/auth/token_verifier.py b/cli/medperf/comms/auth/token_verifier.py
index 79ae7b34e..4e193ac5c 100644
--- a/cli/medperf/comms/auth/token_verifier.py
+++ b/cli/medperf/comms/auth/token_verifier.py
@@ -3,16 +3,20 @@
 wrapped the library's `JwksFetcher` to cache keys in the filesystem storage, and wrapped the
 library's signature verifier to use this new `JwksFetcher`"""
 
+import logging
 from typing import Any
 from medperf import config
 import os
 import json
+from json import JSONDecodeError
 from auth0.authentication.token_verifier import (
     TokenVerifier,
     JwksFetcher,
     AsymmetricSignatureVerifier,
 )
 
+from medperf.exceptions import CommunicationAuthenticationError
+
 
 class JwksFetcherWithDiskCache(JwksFetcher):
     def _init_cache(self, cache_ttl: int) -> None:
@@ -53,4 +57,8 @@ def verify_token(token):
         issuer=config.auth_idtoken_issuer,
         audience=config.auth_client_id,
     )
-    return token_verifier.verify(token)
+    try:
+        return token_verifier.verify(token)
+    except JSONDecodeError as e:
+        logging.error(e, exc_info=True)
+        raise CommunicationAuthenticationError("There was an issue verifying the token. Please try again")