Tag: Impeachment

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7 Women in Journalism on Impeachment, Iowa, and the State of Their Snack Game


On sleep: Since the second official day of the [impeachment] trial began, I’ve been getting up in the mornings at 5 a.m., get into the office at 9 a.m., and then leave the office at 7 p.m. and then continuing to work until it’s over at 1:30 a.m. from home. The schedule is that [the senators] would go from 1 p.m. until about 9 p.m., if they took no breaks…and that’s not going to happen. We’re going as long as they’re going.

On running a literal marathon: I think this is the biggest impact that is happening—I still have to do my long runs. [Beesch will run the DC Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon on March 28.] This morning I had an eight-mile run; Friday, I have to do five; and Saturday, I’ll have to do 18. The trial will just change how much I’m able to rest for the next week or so.

On breaks: I usually just go get a coffee or take a walk around the block. I go into Union Station, if anything is still open.

On unwinding: Cooking and watching The Bachelor.

On making history: Working for C-Span is a truly unique experience at this point in our history, when so much of the public is divided on who to turn to for their news and information. The long hours can be jarring, but I feel grateful at this point in my career to be given the opportunity and responsibility to help cover an event of this magnitude.

Rachel Stassen-Berger, politics editor, the Des Moines Register

Stassen-Berger has been politics editor at the Des Moines Register since 2018. Before that she was capitol bureau chief at the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota.

Olivia Sun/Des Moines Register

On a normal work day: I generally wake up just before dawn, check my phones, and the work begins. My day at the office begins with a 9 a.m. news meeting with other editors, and then I go until I can go no more. [During the lead up to the] Iowa caucuses, I work seven days a week. Most of those days are long—between 12 and 14 hours.

On snacks: I am a snack provider, not a snack eater. I have six candy dishes (chocolate, wild card, hard candy, Starbursts, Altoids, and lollipops) and, currently, two mini gumball machines on my desk. I do nearly constantly chew nicotine gum (though I quit smoking more than a decade ago) and almost always have a big glass of water from which I guzzle.

On breaks: I don’t take actual breaks, but I occasionally break my concentration. And when I do, it’s to sing badly, groan at puns, and sometimes dance (also badly).

On unwinding: I’m currently streaming Bob’s Burgers. That and my lab-mix dog, the very smart and demanding Joplin, help me unwind.

On motivation: I truly believe in the work we do at the Des Moines Register. Covering the Iowa caucuses, being exposed to the people who want to be president and delivering needed news to Iowa, the nation, and the world is a thrill and an honor. The reporters and colleagues with whom I have the opportunity to work help make the work fun and inspiring.

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour.



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Impeachment Inquiry – A Guide to the Impeachment Inquiry’s Most Powerful Women


The impeachment inquiry has been overrun with men. Ever since news broke that President Donald Trump had attempted to solicit foreign interference in the 2020 election, attempting to withhold crucial aid to Ukraine in order to extract an investigation into his political rival, the stories have been filled with men.

There’s Trump himself, of course. But also: his Ukrainian counterpart, President Volodymyr Zelensky; his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani; U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland; Energy Secretary Rick Perry; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Andrey Yermak, an aide to Zelensky; Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman, a top Ukraine expert on the White House National Security Council; George Kent; William Taylor; Hunter Biden; former vice president Joe Biden. And on.

And on.

But for all the men—in the Oval Office, the cabinet, Ukraine, Russia, the House of Representatives, the National Security Council, Trump’s ear, his Twitter feed—women continue to play a prominent role in the impeachment inquiry, providing crucial testimony, addictive commentary, and the political will to hold this president to account.

Here, a guide to those women who’ve quickly become Trump’s worst nightmare.

Nancy Pelosi, the Boss

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi wasn’t the first Democratic woman in Congress to call for Donald Trump’s impeachment (in fact, she was closer to the last), but her support for this inquiry is the reason it’s happening at all. At 79, Pelosi is still a master vote counter. She’s also adept at dealing with petulant children; she has five. That combination—decades of experience and zero patience for shenanigans—has readied her for this moment.

So when the political tide did turn on impeachment, with moderates in the Democratic caucus reversing their stances to back it (joining the likes of Representatives Maxine Waters, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had been calling for impeachment for months) as more and more damning details trickled out, Pelosi seized on the momentum. Within a matter of weeks, Pelosi was publicly accusing Trump of violating his oath of office, threatening national security, and compromising the integrity of our democracy.

Last week she tacked a new claim onto the list of Trump offenses—bribery. It’s one of the few violations that the Constitution expressly names, so it is a big deal. It’s also likely more intelligible to the American people than a “quid pro quo.” First we save the republic. Then we learn Latin.

Or as Pelosi put it to reporters last week: “The devastating testimony corroborated evidence of bribery uncovered in the inquiry, and that the president abused his power and violated his oath by threatening to withhold military aid and a White House meeting in exchange for an investigation into his political rival—a clear attempt by the president to give himself an advantage in the 2020 election.”

With the probe underway and taking place within congressional committees, Pelosi is no longer its face. But she’s still one of the most prominent voices on Capitol Hill, and so how she chooses to frame the stakes of it still matters.

Marie Yovanovitch, the Stateswoman

If it were up to her, Marie Yovanovitch would not be trending on Twitter. Until she was fired from her post in Ukraine and recalled to Washington, D.C., in May, she wasn’t well known outside of the civil service. Yovanovitch has been a career diplomat for most of her professional life, quietly serving in Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Ukraine under both Democratic and Republican administrations. But after Trump dismissed her, her profile grew. First she was turned into the target of a conspiracy-fueled, utterly baseless smear campaign, thanks to Rudy Giuliani and the right-wing news media. Then she became a star witness in the impeachment inquiry, testifying privately in October and in public last week.



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Maxine Waters Has Has Called for Impeachment Since 2017. Fellow Democrats, Welcome to the Party.


Maxine Waters knew it would come to this. Since 1990, she has represented California in the United States House of Representatives. In that time, she has seen President Bill Clinton weather impeachment, President George Bush drag us into endless war, and President Barack Obama survive the scandal of his tan suit. In other words, she can distinguish between real and partisan horror. And she has sounded the alarm on this president for months.

In September 2017, at comedian Dick Gregory’s funeral, Waters said, “when I get through with Donald Trump, he’s going to wish he had been impeached.” In May 2017, she asked, “Why would we let…Trump, a con man, come in here and turn it all upside down with his lies and his disrespect?” She would keep at it, she promised, “until he’s impeached.” In November 2017, she led thousands of people in an “Impeach 45!” chant at Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards. It took some time, but the House of Representatives has now heeded her call.

But as much as Waters is vindicated, she is also under fire. The representative is a frequent target for such right-wing conservatives as Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck, and the hordes of internet trolls who follow them. In October 2018, Waters was one of over a dozen Trump critics who was sent a bomb—in fact she received two—in the mail. She tells Glamour she still gets death threats. But Waters is as resolute as ever: Now is no time to back down. Here, she talks impeachment, Republicans, and what’s next for America.

Glamour: From the beginning, you have been a voice in the wilderness, warning America about this president.

Rep. Maxine Waters I watched this president all during the primaries and the way that he treated his peers. I watched him talk about grabbing women by their private parts. I’ve watched him name-call—he name-called me. I watched him promote violence at his rallies. I watched him embrace [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and refuse to denounce him even after our intelligence committee basically confirmed that the Russians had hacked into our election system.
And now I’m watching him, with this telephone call that really has gotten a lot more people into understanding and believing how dangerous he is, how corrupt he is. A tough call where he tried to talk the Ukrainian president into getting involved in some kind of phony investigation so that he could get dirt on [former Vice President Joe] Biden.



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Hello Hope, My Old Friend: As Donald Trump Faces Impeachment and Elizabeth Warren Rises in the Polls, Can Democrats Learn to Hope Again


But last month, I registered a shift. In me. In the people I know. Even on Twitter. An odd thing has happened. For the first time since the presidential election, some of us have started to feel…hopeful?

The sensation is so novel, I didn’t recognize it at first. But it began with that old nemesis of mine—polls. After months of ambitious plans, hundreds of photo lines, and countless appearances, Elizabeth Warren surged ahead in them. At last a woman whose hard work seemed to be noted and appreciated. The first primaries are still months from now, but for a lot of women, Warren presents a chance to finish what Geraldine Ferraro, Margaret Chase Smith, and Shirley Chisholm started. For a lot of us, the fact that we’ve never had a female president still stings. Even prim-and-proper England had Margaret Thatcher. (Yes, I know.)

Sure, Clinton had her problems, but those issues paled compared to her opponent’s deficiencies; the harassment and assault allegations, his numerous bankruptcies, the grift. I’m not here to re-litigate 2016, but the stark fact was that one candidate was qualified and the other didn’t know who Fredrick Douglass was.

Then, the Ukraine news broke. As reports trickled out, we learned that Trump has been pushing Ukraine for dirt on Joe Biden. Even moderate Democrats backed impeachment proceedings. And in the time since, I have sometimes wondered: What would happen if we didn’t all get dark and doubtful again? What would happen if we decided to hold the Trump administration accountable for once? Stranger things have happened.

There’s an expression in politics that “Republicans fall in line and Democrats fall in love.” As much as I hate the idea, I think there’s some truth to it. But I’ve held off on following my heart. I’ve been burned, and it’s so much easier to just assume the worst than hope for the best. At least that’s how I felt until now.

For the next few weeks, the Trump administration will have to answer for their actions. And in the meantime, women continue to run rings around him. Harris is on the cover of TIME Magazine! Warren, with her focus on childcare and student debt, makes me feel warm inside! I can’t help it. I feel…almost optimistic.

This election will take place 13 or so months and several million news alerts from now. And I am not blind to the realities of our current moment. Abortion is on the chopping block. Immigrants rights’ have been trampled. Our president just asked China to interfere in our elections from the White House lawn. I’m not delusional, but I am hopeful. Because for the first time in a long time, some determined part of me feels like we’re at the beginning of something.

Molly Jong-Fast is the author of three novels. Follow her on Twitter @mollyjongfast.





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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Officially Announces Impeachment Proceedings


Following Democrats’ growing calls to impeach President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced official proceedings on Tuesday afternoon. “The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law,” Pelosi said in her video address.

Talk of impeachment has followed Trump for months, and Pelosi had previously said that Democrats needed to have the best possible case before launching an impeachment inquiry. However, Trump’s latest scandal involving a call to the Ukraine seems to have been the final straw. The controversy came to light after a whistleblower reportedly filed a complaint over an exchange Trump had with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump is accused of pressing Zelensky to dig up damaging information about his potential 2020 political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden while Ukraine awaits millions of dollars in funds from the U.S.

Pelosi suggested that a major development was afoot in conversation with Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg during the Atlantic Festival earlier on Tuesday. “As soon as we have the facts, we’re ready. Now we have the facts. We’re ready,” she said, according to the Guardian.

Just as the announcement of potential impeachment proceedings came, the New York Times released a report saying that Trump had agreed to release transcripts of the call, which he has referred to as “totally appropriate.” On Twitter, he dismissed the controversy as a witch hunt, writing, “You will see it was a very friendly and totally appropriate call. No pressure and, unlike Joe Biden and his son, NO quid pro quo! This is nothing more than a continuation of the Greatest and most Destructive Witch Hunt of all time!”

But Democrats continued urging an investigation—and were able to move the House Speaker. Candidates like Bernie Sanders tweeted, “Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in the modern history of this country. Enough is enough. I hope the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House will begin the impeachment process.” Elizabeth Warren wrote, “I called for impeachment five months ago, the day after the Mueller report came out. Trump continues to commit crimes because he believes he’s above the law. If Congress does nothing to respond, he’ll be right. We must begin impeachment proceedings—now.”





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