Transcripts For CSPAN Covering The Trump Administration 20180210

Important conversation with people who are both on the front lines of history and to make history, because of what they do and of who they are. And reallylace here, our privilege, at smpa to host conversations like this that bring remarkable people who do remarkable things and sometimes very Difficult Conversations to this stage. Tonight, what you will hear is, as i said, that front row seat on history. Being a woman of color at this time and in this place is something that is too rare, something we need to be thinking about on a lot of different levels. I know your thoughts will be challenged with that, and probably in places you will be regaled by some of the stories along the way. It is a pleasure and a privilege for me, as well, to introduce to you a very special student who was going to introduce professor thompson and bring out the panel. She is a junior. She is a journalism major. She has done remarkable things here at gw and beyond. She happens to be president of the Gw Association of black journalists. The prime ofs, in her life at gw. She is the assistant editor of gws multicultural magazine, an intern at an africanamerican newspaper. I think she is destined to go on to a remarkable career, and she is launching right here. Would you join me, please, and welcoming lauryn hill. [cheers and applause] [applause] thank you. Good evening. Third major event in as many years. Streamlineds being streamed live. I would first like to thank the school of media and Public Affairs for helping plan tonights event and the black Heritage Committee for allowing our organization to be a part of another great series of programming. Our organization believes it is important to discuss the Trump Administration from the perspective of black women journalists, a group whose voices have historically been suppressed but who refused to be silenced. Tonights panel, which will be introduced shortly, includes some of the best, most recognizable journalists who cover this countrys elected officials. I hope each of you leaves tonight with a better understanding of the challenges of being a woman of color and a journalist during such a unique juncture in our nations history. It is my pleasure to introduce the moderator for tonight, professor cheryl thompson. Professor thompson teaches investigative reporting and newswriting at gw and has spent 21 years writing for the washington post. She has covered the justice the permit, immigration, d. C. Police, the white house during Barack Obamas term, and spent more than a dozen years on projects in investigative teams. She shared the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2002 and won an emmy award in 2011 for a series on guns in a prison interview with a young man in chicago who killed a police officer. She has two naacp headliner awards and dozens of other awards. She was part of the team the ditty yearlong series on police she was that ones opponents are. That one the full of surprise. Pulitzer. She was named the 2017 journalism educator of the year. Professor thompson has bachelors and masters degrees from the university of illinois. She is Vice President of the investigator reporters and editors board, the first africanamerican to hold that position, and serves on the board of the fund for investigative journalism. She is also a member of alpha kappa alpha. Do, further of further do professor thompson. , [applause] alpha kappa alpha. Please welcome professor thompson. [applause] wow, shouldnt you all be studying . [laughter] out. T come on out. This is our panel. They are being shy. [applause] niamalika henderson knows more about political pen games political campaigns than most people. She is simply one of the best political reporters in the country. Niamalika thank you. [applause] i met yamiche when shenine years ago came to the post as an intern fresh out of that other g school down the street, georgetown. I was thrilled to be one of her mentors. She was fearless, feisty, and dogged, traits that make her the amazing reporter she is today. And she also just took a new job with pbs. She gave up a job at the New York Times does go to go to pbs i know. [laughter] and she is also a considered to msnbc. A contributor to msnbc. [applause] prof. Thompson whether it is discussing tax reform or writing about rob porter you all know rob porter . [laughter] that you didnt know him before a couple of days ago, did you . Darlene superville is a rockstar at the associated press, her home for the last three decades. I know shes like, did you have to say that . [laughter] actually, three decades sounds better than 30 years. Darlene neither one. [laughter] prof. Thompson the nyu graduate has covered former First Lady Michelle Obama and has covered the white house since 2009. [applause] well, well, well. [laughter] whether it is confronting Sarah Huckabee sanders over the president s treason comments or lashing out at a fellow journalist who clearly didnt know you [laughter] for invoking her name at the end of a White House Press briefing, april ryan takes no prisoners. The baltimore native joined the American Urban Radio Network in 1997 and was one of the First White House correspondents to talk to me when i joined the ranks during obamas firstterm. You probably dont were member that, but pretend like you do. [laughter] prof. Thompson welcome. [applause] so we want to have a frank cussion no, not sesno a frank discussion about what is going on in the Trump Administration and what it is like as a woman of color, a black woman, to cover it. April is already giving me looks. First question, journalists, including the White House Press corps, are under attack from the unconventional administration. How do you deal with racially coded policies and statements . In other words, how do you keep your balance . April, you first. April how do you keep it balanced . It is not about me. It is about the story. That is what we really aim to do. It is about the story. That room has never been a room that reflects america, number one. Unfortunately, it seems like when you look like me, you stand out like a pink elephant. I sit smack down on the third row. You cant miss me, and they dont miss me. They choose to overlook me at times but you cant miss me. Covering this white house as an africanamerican woman has been tough. That is a beat that is not kind to anyone. But when you are not part of the , instream press i am not am specialty media, meaning i have a certain niche. I talk about or question about primarily black issues. But i also asked everything. Cover thisu Administration Working on these , particularly when in this administration i am not perceived as their base, it is tough. It is very tough. There have been attacks. Theres been retaliation for questions. But it is not about me. Unfortunately i have been in the news, but it is not about me. It is about the story. And when you look at it as the story and not yourself, you can move on. You can keep going back every day. I havent done anything wrong. I am asking questions like anyone else would, be it black, white, man, woman, jew, gentile, catholic, protestant. Im asking questions is like everyone else who has covered , 1600 pennsylvania avenue, the most magnificent place in the world. Prof. Thompson thank you april. I just want to say i am delighted to be here with all these women who i have known for years. Niamalika i will say for me and i dont cover the white house every day like these women do i see my role as sort of areecting how people registering and analyzing this president s words, particularly in regards to race. I go back to interactions ive had with voters as they were assessing his candidacy, some of the things they would say. Their real reactions to my some would say racially tinged, racial undertones, somewhat say racist, but if you look in the ways that this president talks about race and deploys race, i think it is pretty clear and i have written about this that he is playing the race card. Your criticisms about the left playing identity politics because they talk about black lives matter or the dreamers. Well, it is also true that President Trump plays like identity politics. It is pretty evident if you look at the data and the polling him and terms of how a lot of his voters feel about race and a sense of racial grievance and resentment. I think that is the way i deal with it. You try to talk about the data, how he talks about race. You put together the ways in which he tax he talks about africanamericans, very easily calling for the firing of nfl players, not so easily for the , john kellyb porter making up a story about a congresswoman, that is the way i deal with it. In terms of the way i feel personally about it, this is our job. To holdn this business peoples feet to the fire, to in thisthe voices country, so that is the way i deal with it. I asked myself pretty often why i am still a reporter and what i am actually going to do. The question i would go back to is this young boy, emmett till, who was killed in mississippi as a teenager. That sparked the Civil Rights Movement. I think of myself as a Civil Rights Movement civil rights journalist. No matter what beat i am doing, or at theher crime white house, i think it is a story of race. When i think of the questions i am asking or the stories i am going to write, i think, what are we learning about our country and about the differences in race continuing to color how people are in real race . I dont believe in. With lindsays, so i think you can be fair, but you dont have to always there is no false equivalency like segregation, so i think if i was writing in 1960s i would not say that charlottesville is something that was bad on both sides. I think as a reporter i am growing into that, being able to say that was not ok. I am haitianamerican. When the president was talking about shole countries and talking about haitians and questioning what they have been doing for america, i was in to get on tv and say, one, that is wrong for you to say that patients arent contributing, to two, you should go georgia because free 6lacks came from haiti free blacks came from haiti and helped free you from the former britain, so that is what i do to stay balanced in my mind. I want to come back to your haitian response little later. Darlene . Darlene one thing i would say is that i exercise. [laughter] darlene keep exercising. It helps relieve the stress. It is a stressful place. But as april said, it is a hard place to cover, whether you are black, white, male, female. I have not experienced any kind of personal animus directed towards me because im a black woman. Different a black woman. And i have a different audience than april. One thing i try to keep in mind is that there is life outside of the white house after work. Pursue your interests, and that will take some of the sting out of whatever happened to you that they. Race is such an issue in this administration. Do you are member of another playedtration where race even in the Obama Administration race did not come up as frequently as it does. Race has touched every president in some way, shape, or form. We started up together as a large contingent of black reporters at the time in the bill clinton era. He was dealing with africa, putting a focus on africa. He was also putting a focus on healing the racial divide in talking about the heart. Then we came to george w. Bush, he intrinsically knew what his audience or his base was not black. I am republican because of my father, because i was governor of texas, because of the Death Penalty issue in texas, and just kept going on and on. One ofn when katrina hit the issues is if he had put a little more equity or state into the black Community Like he did africa were Different Things with africa he didnt want to count it because he felt the black population was not his base if he would have done a little bit more in saying who he was, it would not have been so rough when katrina hit. So then you had and i thought and then you have this guy who really mesmerized both democrats and republicans for one reason or another. , race. Ing about him it was race all over just because he was a black man, and s on thet wa thats on theuse black community because it was a black man. It is always on the table, from when bill clinton told me years ago and subsequently all the other president s, and then for this president race is definitely a factor. We talk about Colin Kaepernick and the narrative of the nfl causing a rift with players in the nfl and those who watch, when you talk about sons of what . Then when you go to the shole comments and we hear from maggie haberman, a white reporter, who said something to the effect who said he said something to the effect that if nigerians come here they should go back to their huts because they all have aids. Oh yes. I have seen race play out in some of the best way than most unfortunate ways. It ultimately comes down to a heart issue, the president is the world leader. He sets the tone. I think the narrative about obama was that america had reached this place that we were able to a black man got this job and that there is going to be this great moment and black people everywhere were going to somehow improve their lives. I think that was lost what was lost in that narrative was how my people were angry to see a black man and a black family on their tv everyday, and how many people were mad at their own shortcomings because the economy wasnt working out for them. Theres the idea that people are mad at obama because of the economy, but i mean that if you are someone who already has a predisposition to like africanamericans and then you cant get a job and the job numbers are coming out every day saying the economy is Getting Better and now you have to watch two black girls on tv wearing 1000 dresses, it is not just about president s anymore. It is about your actual lived experience looking at what you could do. America in a lot of ways is told straight white men that you have the privilege. You are the one that is going to be up to do everything. But that obviously isnt the case for everybody. There are straight white men who are struggling, who cannot get jobs, who have issues, and that is just catapulting it. As someone who wasnt a fullfledged reporter yet, i read way more stories about how great obamas presidency was for america and not as many stories about all of the people that were starting up White Nationalist groups were being very angry and stewing in their living rooms because they didnt like by people. Sort of the tea party, right . At some of those rallies oftentimes they would have signs , send obama back to kenya, there is one sign about his ugly dollars. You cover the tea party, you see some of that desperately daughters ugly daughters. You cover the tea party, you see need to take we our country back like it has gone somewhere. Obamak the brilliance of in running for the white house was that he didnt make anyone feel guilty about race and racism. A vote for obama was in some ways absolution for this great sin and stain of racism and this promise of postracism. The way he did that, he had sort of his own sort of sister. Oldier moment goingama, he does that by to black crowds and essentially saying, youve got to do better. Youve got to pull up your pants. This whole idea of black respectability politics, he does that and signals to voters, particularly white voters, that he is not going to coddle africanamericans and is not going to be the president of black americans with a basketball hoop anyway hows. That was first term hoop in the white house. That was first term obama. He was different in the second term. He talked about race a lot more. I think he used the nword once. One of the things against hillary that people brought up is that she made people feel bad about racism. She did bring up black lives matter and talk about racism, nothing that made people feel that. Prof. Thompson how has the Trump Presidency affected the conversation on race . While april is thinking about it, you want to respond . [laughter] darlene i would say that under the Trump Presidency the conversation about race is just more out there, more prominent again. We talked about him with the Football Players and kneeling during the national anthem. That has generated a lot of discussion, and in some cases protest. The issue of the comments he made about haiti, african countries. And lets also remember that one of the biggest proponents of the birtherism issue against president obama was donald trump before he was president. Thatlped drive that idea obama was not born in america for many, many years, and didnt give it up until recently. Prof. Thompson you think it is to cover race with more context because of him . Yamiche everyone on this stage does a great job digging up resources and talking. But we have found, i believe, we have had to dig for more facts and stats to prove certain things are not correct because we have a president now who likes to go off feeling. It is true. He sets the tone for other people to pontificate on cnn or any other network. A Great Network. [laughter] april to say what they feel. I am going to give you a big example. We havent even talked about charlottesville. Charlottesville really exposed a lot. When the president had those teleprompters in his face, we were like, we can breathe. But when he talked off the top of his head, the world shook. It was ugly. Kkkhad david duke of the during the state of the union when the president said americans are dreamers, too. Yet, it was like six or seven times i know i was with him when he went to the military base at fort myer and was military. The it was almost like an apology to tryn explanation tour and explain what he was saying, that both sides are good people. A woman died. A white woman died. So race is exposed and its barest sense. This is not archie bunker. This is the president of the United States. And then when you have people going in talking what they feel, particularly when it comes to the issue of immigrants, we have forgotten that we pretty much, the vast majority of us, are not natives of this land. Native americans are. And we are telling people who can come in who can go. This immigration issue is about the browning of this nation. We are a nation that is now seeing the numbers of babies ,orn who are majority minority so this is about the browning of the nation. People are saying crazy things, like we want people who bring something to the table. Wait a minute, talking about brown and black immigrants. Ira numbered something from 2012 when they had this immigration discussion during the obama years. This is been going on for a long time. I said wait a minute, i read something from the center for American Progress that said black immigrants are the most educated immigrants. Now everybody is quoting it. We have to really go by fax now as journalists because people think you are race meeting, lying, because this president is so quick to tweet something, Say Something to the crowd, and celebrate the black Unemployment Rate when it just happened along the way. We have to really now be the reporters that we really are by digging. You can say what you want, but stats and figures from credible organizations really back it up and show the truth. Yamiche i dont know if we would be having these conversations if Hillary Clinton had been erected that had been elected had been elected. What does that say about our country . I talked to a lot of people whose personal lives are going to be harder because of some the policies donald trump is talking about. People who might lose their health insurance, their medicaid , a couple who might lose money would have repaired the roof, who said i would rather have mexicans stopped at the border then. My own roof fixed border then have my own roof fixed. I had one person say that they dont like their taxi drivers are black now. Theres a real thing that people are seeing America Brown and realizing that even if their own personal safety or wellbeing, they choose race or for that race over that. It is a good conversation to be having, and i am happy to see people having the right stories about race as part of the white house beat. Not just saying we have a race reporter and urban repairs reporter, and the rest of the newsroom can just go about what this isnt happening. I think newsrooms now have to cover race in almost every single beat, and i think it has made the profession better. Prof. Thompson race has become such an issue. Is the president a racist . April oh lord. [laughter] i am not is a position i am not in a position to say that. Go to april. [laughter] april darlene . [laughter] april signaling back to the immigration thing around martin a sad dayg, it is when any reporter, black, white, whatever, have to ask the sitting u. S. President if he is racist. Didnt youu did it on Martin Luther king day, right . April i did, and it is a sad thing. I had to ask him. When you hear credible people from the hill, federal lawmakers, saying he said this, and the whole immigration debate kind of shifted because you dont know if you can work under good conscience that this is really going to work out this way. So i said, ok. I did it. I asked. The day before i queried a couple of sources and asked the naacp, the nations oldest civil what is theization, definition of a racist . Their definition was the intersection of racial prejudice and power. You said it, i didnt. [laughter] and now they are calling the nations oldest civil rights organization, now calling the president of the United States a racist. You have congressman john lewis. Niamalika maxine waters. April when you have a pattern that continues, and then questions about issues of the confederacy niamalika and if you look at the data on this and look at the polling, theres a quinnipiac poll a couple of weeks ago le commentter the sho showing over 60 people responding to the question, do you think the president respects black people as much as he respects white people, 60 of people said no, he does not respect black people as much as he respects white people. It was Something Like 17 of republicans, almost one in five. That was a data point that was interesting, the republicans also the question is, do people think that is a problem . Maybe they think it is fine if he doesnt reflect that doesnt respect black people as much as white people doesnt respect black people as much as white people. In terms of the country, what does it mean for citizens to think that a sitting u. S. President is racist . Republicans also a couple well, democrats always think that republicans darlene but this is different. Niamalika and a republicans have result have racial animus, but this is different. No one suggested that george w. Bush was racist. Except kanye west. [laughter] yamiche i interviewed Donald Trumps exgirlfriend, who is black. Hold up, wait a minute. [laughter] i interviewed Donald Trumps exgirlfriend, a girl who is half black. I asked her, do you think he is racist . She said i dont know because he obviously dated me. I identify as a black woman. There was no question that he knew. Prof. Thompson how long was this . How long did it last . Yamiche this was right before melania. Maybe in between marla and melania. Ok, this ison turning into the Jerry Springer show. [laughter] anyways, i asked him what you think he has that image . He likes to hang around black people that are famous. He was very surprised that black people like tennis because they would go to the u. S. Open and be like, why are all these people here . I guess serena is playing. Theres this idea thats and i also asked jesse jackson, what is the deal . Jackson freee office space in what hes towers and would go to these meetings are people were trying to make wall street have more blacks, and he was doing that without cameras. Wasnt. Trying to prevent point he actually said, how do i help you guys, and then actually helped. Its a very complex thing. Thats the thing. You have someone being sued by the federal government for writing color on application, calling for the Death Penalty for innocent black men, who has yet to apologize for that to this day, who is also spending money trying to get people, more black people, to work on wall street for no apparent reason and dating a half black woman. Basically he is a complex figure. I think he is one of the first president s weve had that doesnt talk much about upward mobility. He talks about coal miners and getting jobs back to go miners. He never necessarily says a coal miner could become, could own the coal mining company, right . I think that is one of the most interesting things about him as well. He doesnt mind hanging out with africanamericans who are wealthy. In some ways you might believe that the son of a coal miner will grow up to be a coal miner, and the son of a millionaire can do anything. One of the things he talks about in terms of all of the people around him that recommend him to those jobs is their wealth. Theres some ideas he has about class as well that arent always brought to bear in terms of the way we talk about him. Yamiche if you ask black republicans, there are some that have fled to the hills, but will are some who really say no, he really does think about race. He is better to africanamericans than obama. Ive heard that. On huawei wait, hold wait wait wait, hold on. This is part of our conversations and our beat. Two sects of black republicans now. The vanguard is not talking about that now. ,he new black republicans girls, the other darrell scott, that is a new crop of republican not entrenched in public not entrenched in politics. Niamalika who probably voted for obama. April i dont know what they did but i know they are doing it now. I interviewed someone who said i am disappointed i am disappointed in the way talks about charlottesville and the justice department, but i still support him. You have these new age black republicans who go handinhand with these new age white republicans because theres a whole crop of new age and of course there are holdovers but theres also a lot of republicans working in the white house like hope hicks and other people who would never have been able to get a job in the white house. Theres a section of republicans who pushed trump aside, they cant get jobs. You have these other people from new york that the president feels comfortable with. But theres a situation right now, the president said that this white house with what a finetuned machine. No. The cogs and wheels are flying off the machine. [laughter] april seriously. And it is sad because this new crop of people coming in, a lot of them have no grasp of governments still, a. , and the ones who really do want to help are pushed out. There is a vanguard, be it black or any race, that want to help. People are scared to do with the president because he will tweak them, he will be nasty to them, and he is a different breed. But the breed that is coming. In understand this breed coming in understand this breed. Even paul ryan has to knowledge that the president s language is different, and how he approaches things. It is a different day in washington. Covering this white house, i believe the goalpost has been moved, and i dont know if it will ever come back. This has been a shift. Niamalika can you yamiche can you imagine a president that didnt tweet . Before questioning whether he was really doing it. April obamas tweeting was different than this. Niamalika thats the point yamiche thats the point. Can we go back to an obama style president . If the next president says his teams handling twitter. Niamalika there could be twitter fatigue after this president , and whoever the president is is going to shape the presidency, and the way obama did. Obama did not set the tone for donald trump. This idea that donald trump is forever changing the presidency i think gives him too much power. Whoever and also sometimes you have in politics the person who comes after is sort of a response and reaction. April let me explain why i say that. After obama, people were looking for this superstar. They were looking for another rockstar. Hillary clinton or donald trump. Niamalika didnt yamiche didnt they get one . April yes, but the key word was change. Obama and donald trump were change, but you didnt know what you wanted in the change. It is here. The problem is you have a president who is now scaring republicans in his own party who dont want to run for reelection. People dealing in a different way than they have before. You got issues on the books that are just kind of niamalika but in some ways he is incredibly successful, right . High amongmbers are. Epublicans i dont know that there will be primary challengers, as much as we focus on jeff flake. April we will see what happens in 2018. Niamalika we will see, but i think he is also just a gardenvariety republican. When you look at his policies, rolling back regulations, lowering taxes. April abortion, they love that. This, and thatve is the crazy thing. Yamiche white evangelicals, though. Why do women over trump . Why did white women over trump . [applause] yamiche you watch these stories and have to punctuated with race, or not actuate it punctuate it with race, or you are wrong. April this thing with rob porter, the white house the first week or something defunded or eliminated the women in violence office, the violence against women office, and look at what is happening now. Women cannot come a white women came out strongly for him. Yamiche i feel really happy i was on the campaign trail for so long because it gives me a window into peoples minds. Why donalde explain trump is where he is right now. Voters said he voted for obama this voters that he voted for obama in 2008 because he was the new guidance is amazing, and when 2015 can around the hot hand was in trump. Hillary was just kind of boring. You knew what you were going to get. With him you just see a rock star. He was the person who was entertaining to watch. That is where we have gotten to. Andre on the apprentice Reality Tv Show society. You are going to have to be popular. It is not just policies anymore. Niamalika you have to understand tv, right . Donald trump understands tv. The First Television president was probably jfk, who understood that as a new medium, and i think donald trump probably understands tv and comes through the screen in a way Hillary Clinton didnt, and that obama obviously understood, and the power of pop culture and away we had not seen before. And he understands the media in general. The New York Times every day even though he called them the failing your times, but that is what his primary sources. It is a paper he used to read when he was in new york city developing his real estate deals and the casinos in Atlantic City and so forth. He knows what he is doing. Prof. Thompson for you guys covering the white house, do you this orlated in supported as a woman of color in this White House Press corps . Well, we have each other. [laughter] i consider each one of these ladies on the stage let me tell you, we had this sister girl moment. If ever something is going on, we will text message. We look out for each other. That is a good thing. Yamiche, im so glad she is at the white house now. We need more of a Diverse Group of reporters at the white house. Weve talked on occasion about Different Things, and weve been there for each other. During the cbc. We have crazy experiences, all of us together, in Different Things. It is a friendship. Used to work nia at the white house, and then she didnt. Shes been climbing higher and higher and higher. And nia, at one of the worst , said girl, life what are you doing . And we had a conversation. Well, irent for nia was in flux at the time and did not know what i would do but nia made me see clearly, and that clarity landed me at cnn. That call many say it is time that made me say it is time that call made me say it is time. I am from baltimore, and we talk about crabs in the barrel. I dont like that mentality. We try to help each other because there is so few of us, and i dont like that going after each other. Another,ut helping one and we help all people, but we know it is a unique situation to be in that white house. It is a unique situation for africanamericans to be in that white house, and for africanamerican women to be in government. You dont see many blacks going into politics, political journalism anymore. You dont see a lot of us. Haveans something that you that sisterhood or brotherhood, the coming together to be able to lift when either up. It is something about that camaraderie. Niamalika if you think about there are maybe 10, 20 of them altogether, black people cover National Politics in washington. It is a very small group. Are there may be covering maybe more covering this an estrogen and others . April no. Prof. Thompson you mean in the white house . April in the white house. It was a lot of us. He the clinton years was known as the first black president , so all of the newspapers wanted to send black folks down there. Now some people say there are only three of us, and there are little bit more, but you have to darlene on any given day when you watch the press briefing, the news organizations, if they are doing it right, the front row could be entirely africanamerican. If i go down the row theres Kristen Welker from nbc, kevin cork from fox news, cbs doesnt , then theresyone me shot is it it aisha . Darlene and im on the third row. What are youn moving to the third row to the first row . April there never moving her to the first row. [laughter] prof. Thompson this is a good segue into this, april. This question is specifically for you. Journalists s i teach my students we never become part of the story. Girl [laughter] where shall i start . You brought up omarosa. April when did i bring her up . [laughter] in some ways, it has worked in your favor. April has it . Kind of a warped mentality to me and i am not saying you are warped. [laughter] april this is where i have a problem with it. People think they see you sitting at the desk at cnn talking or having a fellowship here at this wonderful institution, gw, or writing books and things and that makes her a writer. But behind that i have death threats, and im a divorced mother of two kids. There is a reality for me. Childrensour school, your kids are in school when something happens in the Briefing Room at the goes viral, and my 15yearold is in Current Events class and she has to text me, are you ok . I am great. Because she saw come are you going to get the Congressional Black Caucus to have a meeting with me, or whatever. There is Collateral Damage behind this. I take it for what it is, but you know, i dont want to become the story. I havent done anything wrong. Ive asked questions that anyone else would ask. But because i asked about russia and then got russian salad dressing and i will eat russian salad dressing anymore because of that comment. Niamalika did you like it before . April not really. [laughter] april but i definitely wont even now. And then the shaking your head thing niamalika oh god. [laughter] well nia, ith is true. And all of this stemmed from a certain person who wanted to discredit me because the press is wrong, we are enemies, we are the opposition party, and it started during the summer of 2016 and carried over into the white house. And i really dont want to get into it too much because it is hard to talk about. Was prepared for the time, i guessed. But you are not going to knock me down. And i am going to share this with you. I did tell Hillary Clinton this. I said, you taught me a lesson. When people called you a name you didnt say anything, and it stuck. Youre not going to lie on me because i grew up in my on used mrs. Obama was right, when they go low, you go high, but when someone believes you you have to let them know that you are not the one. And i had to do that. Im serious. [laughter] im serious. [applause] april for 21 years ive been doing this. Me,someone to tell a lie on that i could sue for, i am a divorced mother of two kids. My whole thing is making sure my kids go to college and we have a roof over our heads. Im not worried about all of that, but im not the target. Not today. [applause] prof. Thompson you mentioned russia. You know i am always looking for a segue, right . Former president george w. Bush said today at a summit in abu prettyat this is clear evidence that russia meddled in the president ial elections. At the end of the day, when Robert Mueller is done with his investigation, do you think that trump will be charged with the crime . Darlene i cant answer that question. Prof. Thompson you can. [laughter] darlene then i wont. We dont know. We dont know. Prof. Thompson what is your best guess . Darlene 5050. [laughter] april he doesnt act like a man that is innocent. Really, he doesnt. Why are you going to continue to try to fire people who are investigating you if you have nothing to hide . He does not like he does not act like a man who is innocent, or this administration doesnt. Take your pick. Yamiche i am with darlene, i have no idea. No one in washington knows. There have been a little bit of leaks, but for the most part they are running a very tight ship. Theres nothing onestory that said Robert Mueller is leaning this way or that way, or he is going to indict someone with the last name trump. Forget the president , any of the kids, kushner. There hasnt been one story that it is about to happen right now. Until it actually happens, it is anyones guess. Niamalika i think that is right. I think we do know what the republican reaction will be. There was all this talk early on, will he get impeached, all that. I think House Republicans , where in vitro charges would have to originate, we pretty much know they are going to be in this president s quarter because his success is their success. I think that is one of the things that there is a lesson of what they have demonstrated pretty clearly with this new nas , that this nunes memo they are going to find a way to protect this president. Impeaching a president is hard, and it should be april some of the republicans have shifted. Theyre not ready for reelection. You say they will stick with him, but for how long . Republican voters will largely stick with him. We are in an era of tribalism. In some ways donald trump was right when he said he could shoot somebody on fifth avenue and would not lose any power. There are very loyal to him. They like what he is doing, certainly policy wise. By and large, if you look at polls, republicans are with this president. We know what republicans might do because Robert Mueller has become an enemy if you watch fox news. You talk to some republicans on the hill and they are starting this Smear Campaign to say he is going to be leaning this way or that way because of his political beliefs. If illegal back to the vanguard versus new republicans, their painting him as a republican but an oldschool republican who does not want to see trump be successful. Asf. Thompson africanamerican female journalists, what is the toughest part of covering this white house . Being a target. Prof. Thompson mike you think your target why do you think you are a target . They do not understand going back to what mia said, this tribalism. If you look at stories, people see it different ways. People are looking at it in different ways than i may be seeing it. I think people are not able to see it because of partisan politics. I was chastised for asking a question about whether he supported slavery because of what general kelly said about the compromise about the confederacy in the civil war. If the compromise happened we would not be on the state would be slaves. They were calling robert e lee honorable. That is not long after charlottesville, after trying to mess with it for draco wilson frederico wilson. One thing they do well is charging people. Im waiting to see how theyre going to target turnout since they came off the podium. They are very good at targeting people. It is hard to do your job. If you can go home at the end of the day and say, i did what i was supposed to do. That a whiteing reporter would do. I can go to sleep people and have an eight hour rest and come up and do it the next day. The targeting is hard. This is not specifically to being a black woman. It is trying to get answers to questions. Sometimes it is very big basic questions. Is the president going somewhere . It is not anything you asking that a superduper complicated or top secret. Today, we came in and there have been reports on tv that they he was likegoing to cement his resignation and he was going to stay on during a transition. There were lots of reports on television that said he was out immediately. We tried all day to get someone ,o say, is he gone, has he left has he worked his last day at the white house . Nobody would say anything. Which wasbriefing originally scheduled for 1 00 in the afternoon. It got to 2 30 p. M. We were all sitting out there waiting. 2 30s a little bit after they announced oh that it was pushed until 3 15. It did not sentence of four clock. 4 00. April whenever someone resigned they are escorted out. Im wondering if that was an escort out. Darlene i think that was just footage. He came into work today and packed his stuff up and less. Left. April i heard what he said but i also saw the picture too. Yamiche i do not think there was any video of him today. It would not be out of the realm of possibility that he was gone last night. Prof. Thompson i know about spin. On the basic questions alternative facts. Stories thatget your white counterparts would not because you are women of color . Or is it the opposite . April they dont give me stories they give me grief. Outside stuff from the and ask from the inside. I have sources. Good sources. I covered ferguson and there were people who let me in their homes and misery because i was a black woman asking questions. Tell them my brother is someone who was an africanamerican man has had issues with the police. I could tell them i have been stopped by the police because someone thought i was a black man because my hair was too long. People pleasing for different reasons. Reporters, you try to endear yourself for people for any reason. I have been in the homes of white people who told me point like that they think black people do not like to work. They gave me i see and i did not drink it. Tea and i did not forget. [laughter] yamiche the people give you things people do not give you things for reasons too. If im covering the hell as a young white guy is the Senators Office more likely to give me information . School, ime same not going to have a sorority connected to any white women. Alpha anything is a dirty word on this campus. There is this Human Connection that you make with people. If youre a white woman Walking Around and you are from the same sorority of someone, the connections that you make our way get different stories. I do not know the stories that im not getting. The hell or the white house is majority white. At meot know they look and say they will not tell me what their plans are for haiti because she is black. They might think the opposite. They might want to leak something to april because they think, its a black reporter and the unemployment story and maybe it will make us look like were extra concerned about this. Racist . Ka is that april it is not racist it is about what they want to do is what they want to attract in that moment. It is always strategically place. When it was black History Month niamalika you had an interview with obama at some point. April i had a lot of interviews with obama. Niamalika a lot of it is about outlets. Obama would go on black radio a lot when he was trying to sell and get people to sign up. Been actively i have asked everywhere. I wanted interview with this president. I want to talk about the issues. And race. I want to appear it and see it from him. I tweeted him directly. He never responded. I did it on the campaign trail and while he was president. I want an interview with him. This is not about race. This is about the president of the United States of america. Prof. Thompson i want to be there when you get that interview with him. Prof. Thompson you meet, your family is from haiti. I hope you do not strangle me for this. Yamiche their doctors. They are doctors. Prof. Thompson they are educated. [laughter] trumpsdo not let derogatory comments about your country affect how you covered the issue . Yamiche it is kind of an anecdote. I was starting at cbs. I had a week off. I have two jobs because immigrants work hard. [laughter] i work for msnbc and nbc news. Im taking the week up. Off. He says these comments. I get a call for my on crying. Unt crying. Peopleas a time where would not let haitians give blood. Your kids are getting bullied in school. My mom was being told, i do not want to share this lunchroom with you because i think you have aids. That is happened to people related to me. There is a real deep history. People have lived experiences where they had to practice in this the streets because people were saying haitians were the reasons why a was existing and the United States. Aids existed in the United States. What can i i started tweeting. Said, i would call the haitian ambassador and sorted out with him. Im a reporter. I have always gone back to interview with him. Patient embassy has been doing a lot in recent years. The haitian government have formally asked the United States to explain themselves. I started tweeting out. I dont work anywhere. I was treating him a note saying this is what i have heard. Asked meddow says to come on. I speak quickly naturally. I was trying to slow myself down. I was doing yoga in the studio. Wasnted to make sure i clear and precise and people do not think i was just ranting. I had reporting i wanted to tell people. I have facts about savannah i wanted to share with people. Realts about my parents, fact that wanted to get to. I focused on what i wanted to tell people. You can get any haitian person to spew about how angry they are. I interview people. Whenever i feel upset or about to cry about something i tried to report those things. Every time it happens to me as feel im at my best. Im usually breaking stories because i am so emotionally invested in something that the counterbalance how angry i am im reporting out facts that make people say, this is what people are angry. [laughter] one last question and then im going to open it to you guys. If you have a question, please go to the center of the auditorium where there is a microphone. This is being recorded. My final question for each of if you are writing a play or a musical about covering the Trump Administration, what would it be called . Niamalika a hot mess. This is a white house that thrives on chaos. You feel like a hot mess covering it. There are so many big, unexpected stories that happened. When you think about last week. The state of the union. That is a very routine thing that happens. The white house goes on tour and goes to different communities. That was a blitz. All of us have had to reorient the way in which we cover this white house. In some ways it has made a hot mess of our personal lives. It works for him in terms of his strategy. Likes it that way. He thrives on chaos. He is the reality tv guy. That is the kind of white house he has had. It has been very effective in terms of getting the policy that he wants through congress, maybe he is not as well read. Has done well in terms of getting those through and doing what he wants to do. Prof. Thompson he certainly gets the media attention. Yamiche i was going to go with chaos but i think im going to go with america. Since my parents are from outside the country, they watch International News a lot. We think this is all crazy. It is very much americas story. Issues,a lot of race Everybody Knows somebody who likes is like donald trump. There is someone with super educated, africanamerican, who got good jobs. Everyone has had that experience where you might have a coworker who can say crazy things all day and somehow everyone thinks they are great and cute. You cannot somebody who works hard but says for a little and tries to get it done and that person is seen as problematic. The moment they raise their voice they are angry. The idea that your father can give you a lot of privilege and that america is built on whether or not we question affirmative on action is good. About howtalk georgetown had a base of slaves to build buildings. Your parents might have gone to georgetown at a time where my mom was legally barred from going there. You have legacy. Legacy is seen as something, it is not horrible. Affirmative action is this evil thing that hurts people. America is a great way to think about this presidency. Reality tv, social media, our country has changed. We are not interested in politically correct people at this point in our country. Withne i was going to go moment. The my book would be called omg. The story of Donald Trumps presidency would be the subtitle. This goes back to a year ago in may. My colleagues and i were sitting in our booth in the white house and we were waiting for something to come from the press office. It comes into the inbox. I said, oh my god, he just fire jim comey. Fired jim comey. It has been filled with moments, a lot of omg moments. In your to thought that youre to might have begun a little differently, might have been a little calmer or more stable. It has not. It has not started that way. April my real book is called under fire is that a promo . Plug . At just a april oh yes. Do, for this moment, the two words that come to mind are fake and unamerican. Unamerican. You know why fake. Were supposed to be fake. When you go to unamerican, that was a poignant moment in cincinnati win this president said that the people who sat down and did not clap were unamerican. We have seen this over the years, at every state of the union address. One party sits down when they do not support something. I remember a time when there was one person from the opposite party, when president obama was in the house, say. No one said it you live. Lied. You no one said anything. I guess i am seen as unpatriotic. The press is too. A lot of people have read the comps constitution. It should be the opposite. The book would be to prove how american and patriotic we are. We love this country and stand firm close to the first amendment. Freedom of the press. [laughter] [applause] thank you for coming out. I really enjoyed it. If trump is impeached and he has to set down step down and hence becomes president , what you think a Pence Administration would look like . Bemalika i think you would way quieter, but the country would change more. He understands how our government works. Yamiche i think he has relations relationships were people would trust them. I think it would be able to get those things done in a way trump cant. There is a section of republicans were like, am i going to stake my relapse reputation on the sky this guy. This it would certainly be lester maddox. The Vice President is more conservative. The country would continue to change and go down this conservative path with less trauma and chaos. Niamalika he is an ideological center in the knowledge of policy. He is a conservative in a way that trump is not. Trump is a standard issue republican. Moreence it would be even bad. We are getting way ahead of ourselves. Thank you. Good evening. Professor thompson asked you earlier if you feel supported by your colleagues in the white house. You becoments when the new story, what you end up doing when your editor or producer or employer pulls you aside . Do they support you in those moments . Prof. Thompson thank you for that question. April the great thing about it that has been great is that i talked to my bosses. Ive always talked to my bosses. They have known from day one, when things happen it was not a shock. When they got a call from a certain person what shall not me, my boss to fire said let me stop you right here. We know everything that has been going on from day one. If you are friends will go out and say get drinks. My company has been a 2000 behind me. They stand with me. They watch the briefings. We talked constantly. They know what is going on. They check, they know what is going on. Theyhave been behind me have given me so much support. I am good. Thank you for asking. Thank you. Thank you for the wonderful conversation. One thing i was wondering is what the rise of the term a fake news and alternative facts. How often do you see the administration or President Trump himself call reporting by people of color more often being fake news or less credible than reporting by light journalists . When you have to disprove that are proof that your reporting is just as credible, more than just digging through facts, would you do to improve your reporting is more credible when they question it . If he calls the news media fake, we all take that. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said to me that i was fake news. I said, no. We have had dinner. We have talked. We have tried to have a coming together. An understanding of one another. There is a situation where they do not understand why i asked. Everything comes to the white house from war to peace, everything in between. Im allowed to ask that. You have a new wave of people coming in level and point of view who see things differently. The onus is on at the leaders or the viewer readers, listeners, or the viewer, to take a look at what the person is saying. Such,ay, this is such and it may documentation. When i ask my questions, i try to practice them. People like to say, you are fake. No. I just told you why i asked the president if he is a racist. I did not give you the definition from the naacp. Rob portman was talking about the president being so incensed and upset about saddened. [laughter] he is saddened. Asked, if he is so saddened against violence against women, why did he close down or to fund the violence against women caucus and shut down the women and girls caucus . That is real stuff. They cannot deny. If he thinks i am not trustworthy or whatever. It is fact. You can look it up. To keepthe only way doing the who, what, when, where, why. Up here we have given our opinions. When i am talking to you over there, i am giving you the facts. Do nothing trump and his allies make a distinction in terms of thickness. Thank news to them is is that they do not like. It is generalize. It is not like the black reporter or the latino reporter. If they do not like it is fake news. Thank you. Thank you all for being here tonight. And means a lot. What is something you wish you knew going into your profession now that you have that you know now . Niamalika everything works out. I did not have a plan. I started in print. I was a late bloomer. I ended up going into journalism. Be nice to everyone. A lot of the people we end up you meetith and hiring them on the campaign trail. 2008 withgo back to april covering obama. It is such a small Net Community if you are a National Political reporter coming into the white house or the hill. Those relations are really important. Thank you. Hello everybody. I wanted to thank you guys for coming to this panel. I had a question for each one of you guys. Career, weof your you are in retirement age, not like that. Want to be thing you remembered by as a person and as a journalist . April this is an obituary question. No. Prof. Thompson pretty much. What drives you guys . Niamalika mentoring is one of the things i tried to do with folks in the juncker younger, particularly women and people of color. It is important. We have this next generation. We are not going to be in these roles forever. To be generous to folks were coming up behind us. I did not have a lot of mentors. Glenn idol. Mentors andof my role model, who was looked up to and wanted to be. That is one of the things for me. Bringing up the next generation and mentoring the folks who come up behind you. Yamiche i hope that people say that i told the fruit truth and made a difference. That i represented everyday people, concerns, and challenges. Die, because that is what its going to be, i do not plan on retiring, i hope that that is what it is. I can be i hope remembered as a civil rights journalist. That the work i leave behind is , the peoplegepodge can throw together the stories that i wrote and see what is happening. Darlene i think that i would like to be remembered as someone who worked hard, tried to do my best every day, put everything into whatever story i was working on at that moment. I hope also like to be, the would be some other woman of color who would come behind me and work for the ap and get to cover the white house. Right now there have only been to. Because there have only been two. 1846, right . That is another panel. Mentoring. Truth. Xposing putting fact out there. Making sure people really understood the truth about communities that were underserved. And also, my heart in covering these president s. Four president s. Efully i get to governor hopefully i get to cover five and six resident president s. I dont know if i want the front row. [laughter] but i also want the heart and respect. Those were some wonderful, trailblazing women, whose issues can never be filled. Thank you. I think you are all great. Likeld like to ask you, i, a lot of other people, have not paid as much attention to the news as i have with this last election and administration. [laughter] not, theou like him or reality is, a lot of people are exposed to you by name because we are so attuned to the news. You have in various ways become celebrities, intentionally or not, because the criticism yourted at you directly in case, what do you find that is positive about the coverage you have had to do in terms of how has it affected you as a journalist . Or is there something positive you can take away from this entire experience . Everything, i think. This is a privilege and opportunity to cover this administration, the country, talk to people about how they feel about this, go into their homes. I am delighted to be in this role. I am lucky to be covering this administration. There are not many people, many black women, black people, who get to sit in these it chairs. It is an honor and a privilege, the job i have. It has helped me meet people facetoface, that are watching me. I try not to think about how many people are watching pbs news hour because i might throw up. I think about my mother. My mom wants me to slow down. [laughter] i did not realize how many i amanamericans would say so happy for your pbs newshour job, so happy you can be in my living room. I started getting all these emails like, i get to see you every night. I never thought about that because i was a print journalist. You think people pick up the paper on the train. But there is something about being in peoples homes that pbs stations reach that is different. I can tell people when the haitian thing happened, you are watching a haitian reporter working right now. Just in the presence of being on tv affects the conversation and helps people feel they are being represented in a way i never thought about. Thank you. Last two questions. April, you wanted to answer . No. Quickly i would just say, did you back off of what quickly i would just say, did you back off of what nia said, it there is a saying, cliche but true, we have a front row seat to history every day. Every day at the white house, some history is happening. There are very few people who get to be there every day. We are all privileged to be among that small group. I would say the challenges we are all facing in terms of covering this administration has made us all redouble our efforts to make sure our facts are in straight, to do the best job we can. Because this climate right now is so hyper partisan, toxic. There is all this talk of a fake news and you dont want to give anyone any ammunition to come at you. For a kid that grew up in baltimore and still lives in the community, five generations from slaves on my mothers side, it is a blessing to cover history. To have four american president s call me by name. This last one may have called me another name. [laughter] but it is a blessing. To be able to watch history and report on history. And for people to know that when i come to you i am telling you the truth, and understanding that maybe the reason why i am being targeted is that i am effective and they do not like that. So, it has been a blessing it. You can never dream what the lord has for you. Thank you. Thank you. [applause] yes, my name is juliet adams. I have a different perspective. I think the chaos is good because americans have been silent for too long. It has come in a way that individuals did not expect. My question to you is that we have heroes in power from old that we need to draw on and send a statement, how would you as the press, even the entertainment industry, how will you maximize this experience . Let me say this to you, i am glad you said that. I have gone into somebodys house, too. [laughter] icon, activist before he became an entertainer, Harry Belafonte, invited me into his home. He invited me for dinner, i did not have time. I had tea. You drink his tea . I had time for his tea. [laughter] yes i did drink his tea. [laughter] this was right after the election. And i have been watching facebook and when a lot of people were in the fetal positions for months, you remember the moment barack obama was made president and the moment donald j. Trump was made president. I went straight to twitter. I saw a friend of mine, the former prosecutor of the o. J. Simpson trial said, oh, they have let the town the clown have the keys to the white house. I said chris, you are going to get into trouble. And then we hear bob johnson, we havefriend, who says to find common ground. I called my former congressman you will be name dropping through this whole thing . [laughter] [indiscernible] [laughter] no, he did not. Anyway, i am saying this, i call the former head of the naacp. While we are here, i want to recognize the former chair of the naacp. Raise your hand. [applause] and that was a name drop, yes. [laughter] he said, i gave them all the scenarios and said, we are at a crossroads. People are still in the fetal position weeks later, this was before the inauguration and after the election. People were still having fits. When i go to new york and sit with Harry Belafonte, he says, what were we seeing . He was an activist, walked with Martin Luther king, lay down on pallets, when they were going out to march for selma. For the Voting Rights act, the civil rights act, and all that kind of stuff. He said when i was under the tutelage, terry vida voice told mee deboise something. This is the greatest time. Why would you say that . He said when there is great pain, there is radical activism that affects change. But the question is, where is that activism . People will get up on twitter and do this, take that. Have an emoji. [laughter] take that. Like you are doing something. I will block you. [laughter] but people are not willing, i do not see, as reporters i am not seeing we might see women go out the next day after inauguration, and a year later, but i am not seeing the ground swell Harry Belafonte was talking about. He was kind of upset about that. People talk about twitter, but i am not seeing them scuff up their shoes on the streets. As a reporter i am not seeing that. I get where you are coming from, i see what you are saying. But if youre really upset give us something to report on, we will report on it. I am not think it to report report. Seeing it to remember how they used to come to the white house . Let me in, with a tin can, scraping it up on the white house. I dont see it in Lafayette Park like it used to be. [laughter] no, you can get a permit. It is important to note people greeted obamas presidency with cheers and they loved him as president , and it is the same for trumps presidency. What about the majority that are against him . I am not seeing it. When you talk about charleston, im not think it i am not seeing it. You had the protest, the weekend the travel ban was put in place. That was a ground swell. People could not come into the country, you have people at airports. Consistency is what i am talking about. They had the womens march. They did it two years running. But continuously. They are not as persistent as the tea party, for instance. Right. That is something he brought up as well. Harry belafonte said the resources is some of the problem. He said republicans are funded by the Koch Brothers and nra, and things of that nature, whereas the liberals have trouble finding it. Think there was an organizing principle around the tea party in a way there is not that around progressives. Progressives, the diversity of their coalition sometimes makes organizing hard. It is essentially africanamericans, latinos, collegeeducated white people, and they feel very differently about issues at times. And women. I am talking about a movement that has made change. Think about it. The four kids that sat at a woolworths counter, they got the ball rolling for the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King was a young man and he only had 4 of the black church supporting him at the time. That is fact. The tea party was a movement and they affected change for donald trump. As journalists, i think this is a big moment. As someone just starting my career, i talked to a lot of my mentors and say, what would you do . It is so upsetting to me that i am working at pbs and she is not there. They still have her office, they still call it that. Confidence inthe myself, i talk to her before she died, she told me i could do the job. I am in this place now, who do i have, who am i going to talk to . Because for me either there is a ceiling where i have to step up as a journalist. The main person asking questions to is in here. But i find myself asking questions to other journalists, because i would say im still and i am definitely a street reporter. Until a year and a half ago, i was a backpack and sneakers kind of reporter. I do that now, but there is the politics and wrapping my head around policy and the street. That is the more poignant reporting. But it is a tough thing to wrap your head around. Thank you. The final question belongs to you. Audience member thank you so much for coming. You are obviously very established in your careers. So advice to young media and journalists, you have to be aware of everything happening all the time in the field. How do you maintain your Mental Health . I dont know. How do we maintain our Mental Health . [laughter] i would say for me, i have always had a balance. My mother was a social worker. She was very good at balancing stress. When i was stressed out in college one year she said, you need to start watching greys anatomy. It changed my life. [laughter] for me, my mom has i wanted to hang out with my kids and go on trips of my children, to let you know you were the most important thing to me. The idea i was raised by someone very precise about how she set up her life and i am doing that now. I am about to get married in three weeks. [applause] for me, it made sense to want to make room in my life for a boy that had been calling me for a year. It made sense, maybe i should go on a date. Maybe i should see what this love thing is about. You have to make room in your life for other things. Even if it is very hard to disconnect, because i get Donald Trumps tweets as text messages. Point,nt is that at some even if it is 30 minutes or an hour, i am at the gym or working out. Mainly because i want to get into my dress. [laughter] i fill my time with netflix. You need to give yourself an hour where you are just chilling out. And you have to learn how to say no. That is a big thing at cnn, one of the things don king told me, learn how to say no. Which is very hard at cnn. There was an instance when i was literally on set on live tv getting a call from cnn booking me for another hit in the next hour, that is the kind of expectation that comes from these jobs, because of the white house, because of where all of us work, it is constant. Learn to say no and learn to know that no is a complete sentence. You dont have to say no, because of this, that, and the third. I need to learn that. [laughter] find things you like. For you, it is greys anatomy, which i find stressful. [laughter] i watch a lot of hgtv, house hunters. [laughter] darleen, you do yoga. I run, you cant be texting and writing and reading your phone when youre running. I also do yoga, that is an hour without the phone. You cant do texting and all that stuff when you are in a downward dog. [laughter] i second everything nia has said. You need to carve out Little Pockets of time here and there. A couple weeks ago i took myself to the movies. What did you see . I was trying to remember. I saw the post. [laughter] and you forgot that . I cannot remember the other day that the state of the union was just last week. I had once took a nap because i had gone on a show at 6 00 a. M. , i woke up and was dead tired. [laughter] for me, selfcare is important. I have my kids, but i need selfcare, too. [laughter] i do a lot of driving. I drive two hours each way every day. I decompress, go home, and try to watch mindless television, something i can get engrossed in that takes me away from all of that. When i am not on tv, i need to learn to say no. I go into a mindless state because it is bad when you wake up in the middle of the night and pick up your cell phone off the nightstand and see who has text messaged you, what you have missed. I think we are all guilty of that. My day is 24 7, it never stops. I have got to learn and i am doing this now, i am also now for my health and my wellbeing. I am doing Strength Training and ropes and all that. Im trying to get there. And enjoying my kids more, taking them out of town, having fun. My daughter has a hamilton workshop next weekend and we are going to do a couple theater shows. Just mindlessness, enjoying life. For those of you who are stuck on the tv, i love the cnn, Great Network [laughter] how many of you are political junkies . There is a thing called selfcare. Back away and come back. What i have learned, the roller coaster will keep going. It is ok to get off. When i get off, i breathe. There have been stories of reporters i lost a friend , i will never forget, Michael Feeney who died at 32, the day the iowa caucus happened. I could not get out of bed because i was crying so hard. I have gotten reminders from the world that, yes, work is important. He just got his dream job at cnn as an entertainment reporter. He was supposed to be moving to atlanta when he died. Yes, work is important, but you want to savor the moment. Because you just dont know what is going to happen. I always think, i dont want to be an old woman sitting in my rocking chair which is what i hope to turn into not thinking, i never got to see my kids, or i am divorced because they did not answer my husbands phone calls because i was so entrenched in work. A local new york reporter did that. It is not a fun thing to do, it is a life or death thing in my mind. You can work hard and then carve out time for selfcare. I want to say, thank you for that question. And thank you guys, you are amazing. [applause] i just want you to know that there are bags. We have gift bags. Weve got gifts. Because this is what we do and who we are, bam [applause] [overlapping voices] you are afraid of that . Because you are georgetown. Thank you again for coming out. Really appreciate it. [applause] now, my students, go study. You know i will be off campus. Dont take advantage of it. And thank you guys, again. Thank you, this is wonderful. [applause] who you [crowd chatter] [crowd chatter] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] saturday, American History tv on cspan3 is life beginning at 9 a. M. Eastern. We have a symposium of historians exploring the bible and the founding of america. Speakers included baylor , american Professor University Public Affairs professor, and Vanderbilt University divinity professor. Watch live on saturday morning starting at 9 00 a. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3. Now, a discussion on the congressional negotiations concerning the longterm budget deal. From washington journal this is 30 minutes. Greta sarah ferris at our table covers budgets and appropriations at politico. Up on capitol hill until very late or early morning, i should say. What was the mood in the senate as they were watching senator rand paul continuously object to Republican Leadership trying to move forward with the stopgap bill . Sarah the mood was sleep deprived