Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hillary Clinton And Chelsea Clinton The Book Of Gutsy Women 20240713

Are gutsy not only because they want to achieve something but because they want to pave the way for others who are going to come behind. Background sounds. Please welcome the 17th president of the George Washington University Thomas locke. [applause] sued a im going evening everyone and welcome to the George Washington university. I am pleased to you to tonight his if it. Presented in partnership with politics and prose bookstore and the second in the George Washington university his president ial extinguish if it series. We want to series last semester to give our students the opportunity to hear from renowned leaders. Individuals who bring them eliminating dialogue insight and inspirations to our campus. Tonight is an honor to host secretary Hillary Rodham clinton and Chelsea Clinton. Our campus. [applause] is i greeted secretary clinton on arrival i remind her that i traded trace the arc of my career with hers. A being at the university of rochester, i welcomed her to our campus. I welcome secretary clinton to our campus. Tonight it is my honor is president of the George Washington university, to welcome author and world emine eminent, clint said to our campus. Secretary clinton and Chelsea Clinton are here to discuss the new book. Is the book of gutsy women. Ensure the reflections of the trailblazing women who have inspired them. While this marks the first book together, each is the author of several previous works. Including secretary clintons what happened, and Chelsea Clintons Childrens Book, she persisted. Thirteen american women change the world. Our university of sports have benefited from the Clinton Family aspiring contributions to the educational and research mission. But especially through the rotted institute. Aim for sec. Clintons mother dorothy, the rhonda mentors to asmara for monday years is the forefront of efforts to improve Health Equity outcomes in washington dc in our community and society broadly. We regulate full of the partnership and impact that the institute has had on communities near and far. And now i would to welcome to the stage, muscatine will moderate tonight his moderation. She is the coowner of this bookstore is hard to sec. Clintons chief speechwriter and white house and state department. She is currently working on a book to be published by England Press entitled, hillary land. Thank you and please welcome melissa to the stage. [applause] melissa are you ready for some gutsy women. [applause] i think i know a couple who are ready for you is it too. Give me one second though. First on behalf of the entire staff in politics and prose, and especially our Extraordinary Events team lit led by liz. Would like to thank president leblanc and all of our friends and partners of all of the students at uw who are here with us tonight. Is president mentioned, and coowner of politics and prose and i will body moderating the conversation with our very special guest, Chelsea Clinton and lori rodham clinton. There had to talk about their new book, out of the presses this week. The book of gutsy women. Favorite stories of courage and resilience, vanessa remind all of you that you will get your copy at the end of this if it if you go downstairs, you will have a copy waiting for you. So dont forget to pick them up. By way of expiration, just wanted to mention that i first met hillary and Chelsea Clinton, more than 25 years ago in 1993. Chelsea was 13 years old and lets just say it was a quickly apparent that she was the most eloquent voice and smartest teenager in the history of teenagers. [laughter] nothing shes done since has a anyone who has watched her grow into the remarkable woman that she is today. Shes an advocate here around the world for women and girls. A promoter of civic dialogues and public engagement. In a powerful voice for saving our planet from existential threats like climate change. Shes an assistant professor at Columbia University and Public Health and of course she is already a prolific author. She has cowritten a book on Global Health and six Children Books of her own is president leblanc street in all testaments to her profound human rights and social justice. Her im going work on behalf of so monday people and so monday places, is informed and inspired in no small measure. By her role is the mother of three small children Charlotte Eden in the very recently, jasper. She is also been inspired by the woman who will be on stage with her tonight, her coauthor of the book of gutsy women, and speaking of who. Is there a gas air woman in Hillary Rodham clinton. [applause] the trailblazing transformational first lady of the United States. Twoterm u. S. Senator of union nor new york. Global champion for women and girls and human rights and democracy and the first woman ever to be nominee of a Major Political party for president of the United States. [applause] i just have to offer a quick reminder about that 2016 president ial election. Because no one, should ever ever ever, get the Hillary Clinton won nearly 66 million votes [applause] whistles [applause]. [applause] and lets just forget that was both more than the man currently occupying the white house and can be clear that she won nearly 66 million most even with a certain russian dictator putting his thumb on the scales to help. Some of my calculations, that means that today, three years later, at least enemy at least, 66 million americans are certain that the white house would be much better shape right now if a woman are for running the place. And isnt it amazing that donald trump just cant get over it. [laughter] but i digress. Hillary clinton is here tonight wearing a different hat, that in her role is author. Like chelsea she is written six previous books. Including major bestsellers and i miss thinking feeling and reducing the book youll understand why im staying this, for her this latest book may be the most special of all. Please join me in welcoming mother and daughter coauthors of the book of gutsy women, Hillary Rodham clinton and Chelsea Clinton. [applause] [applause] it is great to be back here at gw. Hillary clinton i want to thank president leblanc for welcoming all of us. Our family loves coming here. Were just talking backstage about my husband and chelsea as well is myself have been here numerous times. On the stage and l i speaking, chelsea dancing when she was in the washington ballet. I know why you all just laughed. Jesse i was never a star to put it mildly. I wasnt bad but is describing here. Hillary weve done in various accommodations and its always fun and such an honor for me. First i just want to thank you on behalf of womankind, jack thank you on behalf of womankind for this book. [applause] is im staying to them at a time, the frustration tonight is going to be that we can continue only talk about so monday of them. Not nearly the range that we would want to otherwise, we could stay for a week and talk about all of them. But its an amazing book, it is so important to have the stories of so monday women in one place. Well talk about that in a second. So we should get going because we dont have a tenant time and we want to cover is much ground is possible. I want to start by staying he wrote this book together, and journalism legal we would say you have a joint byline. How did you decide his name when first. Hillary edge before beauty obviously. The process of having a joint byline writing about or anything but someone else, is incredibly rich. Because of the different experiences and points of views of your coauthor brings to the project. Ever chelsea and me it was especially exciting because this book comes out of a conversation we had literally says she was a little girl talking about people and especially women who inspired us. This was so great about it is that stories are so deeply personal to each of you in some cases to both of you and some pieces and across cultures and generations and geographies and backgrounds. So there is really, an extraordinary range you put together. One other kind of superficial question sorry but chelsea, you have mentioned with a huge amount of affection in a town of accenture ration. But is is been like to coauthor a book with someone who still writes in longhand on yellow legal pads. Maybe not yellow but anyway on legal pads. So i am just wondering if there are any other challenges working with your archaic mother. [laughter] that you would care to share. Monday students here so im sure would relate. And you want to share with us met or maybe not. Chelsea thankfully her penmanship is legible. So like my fathers. I knew that my mother wrote in longhand because i had seen a writing process for what happened most recently in her previous book. Had net understood what that would be like for hard working dynamic. And then not only does she kind of right longhand she edits like in a paper is it too. I thought surely that she wouldve at least come to understand why track changes are our friend. [laughter] and yet she had it. And despite all of my efforts to persuade her, that this was really help us Work Together and we can see our different thought processes and go back and forth in the documents, i knew there was no way i could have her share like google docs. At least two track changes. She does know how to use a computer. But no, it just wasnt, comfortable for her. Hillary in my defense, you know who else writes in longhand is barack obama. So i rest my case. I am going to turn the tables below pit. Im sure there are a lot of women in the room who are like me and you who love our daughters deeply and transcendently big brothers notified write a book together, hunters at least for some people, images of a lot of screeching indoor slamming. So are there any surprises for you working with your daughter. Hillary we started by making lists. Listen honestly the lists were in the monday hundreds. They were of athletes who reminded admired, entertainers we had mitered, academics and Business Leaders and Public Servants and we had monday hundreds of names. We began to try to in a row it down the only backandforth that we had in the beginning was i would advocate for the people i wanted to remain on the list and she would do the same i will try to compromise sometimes i would say no i have to have brandon and chelsea was a no i have to have read. So we ended up writing more than 200 essays and or publisher rightly said, will or publisher rightly said that people have to carry the book around on a scooter or something. [laughter] so we cut dramatically. That was hard. We have lots of really challenging conversations about it was going to be cut. Sometimes xander would make suggestions or i will or chelsea would and then one of us was a no no i dont want her cut. So that was the only real problem that we had and we end up with a very Representative Group of historic visit figures fictional figures, contemporary figures, that really did capture what we were trying to convey because at the end of the day, we are so grateful to these women in their lives and we wanted them to be seen is whole people. Theyre not perfect and theyre not up on a mountain somewhere. They worked hard and they overcame obstacles. Theyre gutsy because they made it clear that they were following their dreams and that they had a mission. And it wasnt easy. So we think that those stories are im going ones for us to share because we find them so inspirational. Catches follow up a little bit on that. One thing is interesting is the span that you cover. You talk a little bit each of you about the differences growing up. The source of role models. You had very few. Yet iran is the straight tshirt missus king, Amelia Ehrhardt met joe and little women and is he drew. She has even more. Yet a pediatrician who was a woman, a mayor of little rock and you edit few more, but a huge number but a few more women figures who are brought up in your classes in school. But i wonder if and how that sort of generational difference, how each of your experiences is women experiencing changing gender roles influenced these selections. Chelsea. Jesse i dont think i had quite understood positions in between my mom his going up. In my going up with regards to women role models until we really started this effort and my mom just reflected how the only women she knew were who worked outside the home or her School Teachers in the public right librarians. That was just so different than mine. The vast majority of my friends moms worked outside of the homes. Some were lawyers like mom, some were nurses and dodgers and entrepreneurs. Is you mentioned, when i was in and immerse great, our mayor, was a woman. Betty lowe was my incredible pediatrician who took great care of me later went on to lead the childrens hospital. I just had all of these really visible kind of dynamic and Inspiring Women in my live. I also had teachers or it and really all throughout school who were determined that not only history but all of the social studies and sciences and math were not seen is just the prophets of old straight white men. So im so thankful to my teachers who, introduced me to grace hopper or elizabeth or these amazing women that i now write about. They are an gassy woman. I may never have known about them except for my teachers. I had such a different experience. You know really that aware of that until this process. The surprise you at all. Chelsea when we began talking about it, we realize what a gap it was. Hillary i read about live magazine or in books. Is a child, live magazine, was a doorway to the world. Thats where i read about a million fred hart or Margaret Bourke white or the amazing Margaret Chase smith, the republican and senator who stood up against her own party. When we like to see that again thousand maine. [applause] that is how i met these women and there wasnt very much elementary lending and much High School Years that talked about women and we may be maybe cleopatra mightve been mentioned. Part of it was just coming to grips with how hungry i was and how encouraging my own mother was for me to pursue these women on bar about that. But it wasnt part of my school at that. In history. In fact theres a funny story in the book, because he came across helen keller because of the television dramatization of her live. In this amazing woman who was taught by ann sullivan the to communicate. Fast forward last year the texas state board of education decided to eliminate helen keller and me from the curriculum and i was really upset about helen keller. Being eliminated and thankfully, cooler heads prevailed in prayer apparently we are both in. But it i sure hope she has a lot more prominence than that. She deserved it. Then a check about how i go to the library, the public library, every week with my mom and when i get old enough i rode, and the librarian that was taking care of kids, she said youve got to read this new book, its about this young girl named anne frank. I did know anything about the holocaust are about what happened. I was probably ten years old. That was how i discovered these women and is chelsea and i were talking about it, he was a very different experience between the two of us. Lets talk for a second about this definition of gutsy. He touched on that a second ago. Talk about it in the book a couple of places. You all should know, we do get you copies, they divide these women into these groups, educational pioneers athletes advocates activists, elected leaders, viewers explorers and adventurers. And thats not all of the categories. Within each of those categories, all women who worked inside of the system and outside of the system, women who were allowed women who work, women who push for change, women who work part of the change. In some of these women you couldve crossed categorized. Repent of cross reference them. I sort of mentioned another way that i thought about some of the women in the book was there pioneers, women who are breaking barriers. Like virginia johnson, the great dancer was such a big influence in chelsea. Mathematicians and astronomers and scientists. Race hopper, a mountain climber. I never heard of her. Problem solvers. Women who you may recognize the names but she was a dr. Who ought to clean up the water in flint michigan. You write about another one chelsea, cutting edge gene therapies to treat hiv and hepatitis. And then for sisters and resisters. Billie jean king, community and labor rights. Mana, the woman in saudi arabia who fought for to have the right to drive. On my favorites and the most, doctor halle, with live lemon everything, really against incredible odds to open sustained Health Clinics for tens of thousands of displaced people in somalia. The list goes on and on and on. What is the common denominator aggressiveness. And all of these women. How did you each define it. What were their metrics that you had to apply to whittle that giant list down to the hundred and three women in this book. Chelsea some of the whittling down really had to also just be the distal reactions that we each had. Kind of when we thought about not including them. For us it was really that guessing its is so evident in all of these womens lives because they were not only driven by their own purpose and to lead but they were determined to make the world a better place. And sometimes the world was defined is their family, or their schools or the community and sometimes really is their global communities. So all of the characters that you mentioned particularly persistence which i feel very keenly is one of the Core Competencies for any live well lived. I just kind of embedded in the gutsiness that these women demonstrated and continued to demonstrate. Because changing the status quo wasnt just for themselves it was for everyone i think thats a key factor. Because there are truly so monday women we admire but is we were narrowing the list down. Hillary we were looking for what it was about that womans live and her work and her advocacy in her mission that affected others. And it became was we started talking about it, a key ingredient is chelsea says, and i am someone who has been privileged to meet some of the women is is chelsea and so we do meet someone like a doctor like this who is very modest looking woman who stood up against alshabaab, islamists terrorist group in somalia and when she had opened up her farm to shelter 90000 people predominantly women and children who saw it on refuge there. They shared up and demanded the basically started over to them. She stood her ground and refused and confronted them by shaming them. What are you young men doing and why are you even here. Why are you fighting. You meet her and she is the most unimposing person. But the story of that confrontation and her continuing support for all these women now supported by her to her daughters there are also physicians. That just check with me and i have so monday stories personal stories, through vital voices which is the Great Organization that highlights women like her around the world. Part of what i have wanted to do is to introduce our readers to more of these women. Everybody gets a little discouraging little down about whatever happens in your own live or certainly whatever happens in our larger society, they just want people to remember history figures who were wheeling to take those risks and stand up and fight back and speak out and women today. Like takemoto from plant who is the one who said wait a minute something is wrong these children who i take care of. Im a pediatrician in there something wrong. And she would not talk talking about it. You are trying to dismiss her. Thus the characteristic, determination and persistence on the behalf of others such is themselves. You both talk about persistence now i think that i read in the book record you say in chelsea i suspect this is part of the required ingredient of persistency is optimism. That even in the face of the incredible tout challenges that monday of these women have state pace, they somehow remain optimistic. Chelsea i think if they didnt believe that theyre kind of energy and kind of married to their talents, to make a difference. They would not have persisted. I think that is such a powerful example of what it means to be optimistic. In the world. And just listening to my mom and arguably the Largest Group appointment of the vaccine aiders. A largely, women workforce and millions of women who kind of, every day work to inoculate children against everything from measles and polio to the courageous outline vaccine workers in the drc who are desperately trying to vaccinate against ebola. Hundreds of lives have been lost. Just in the last six years and yet more and more people continue to rise up. And do that work because they know how important it is. Its is it too that optimism of their own communities to give every child an equal shot at live. Which is what i would think anyone wouldnt take should want and yet we know in our own country that its not always the case. I want to be a little serious because the impetus of the book was when chelsea was riding her wonderful Childrens Book she persisted doing book signings and meeting so many little kids who would come with their parents or at my book signings before the 2016 campaign and after the campaign with my book what happened. So many young kids would say who are your heroes . Who do you look up to . And i found that such a poignant question because its easy to be torn down in todays world we all have flaws in crisis and far from perfect so who are the people you can look up to and be inspired by . So when im a little down or discouraged bit the state of the world i do spend time thinking about some of the people who have inspired me. We have two groups of women in this book who have taken on the scourge of gun violence. We are so moved by sarah brady whose husband was shot when president reagan was confronted by the attempted assassination and was paralyzed and she never expected to be an advocate against all of the gun violence that we see that or someone whose son was murdered but now in congress and our dear friend Gabby Gifford who is survive the assassination attempt and kept going. And like Melba Marquez green who was murdered at sandy hook. When i think about people who face those unspeakable and unimaginable tragedies keeps me going again and chelsea may want to talk about the young women. They are here. [applause] she just celebrated her 80th birthday or julia with these incredible young women who are standing up against the nra with more research and violence prevention legislation and awareness about the crisis tragically including with death by suicide and just to echo and the congresswoman can get up every day to be ensure that no parent is confronted when her son is murdered how do we not do that every day . Or sabrina who is now running, running, this will be the only super political comment of the day, maybe. [laughter] if you want to contribute today please consider contributing to the campaign of sabrina she is running for miamidade commissioner. [cheers and applause] what right do we have to feel that we should not be doing everything we could be possibly doing . This is the extraordinary courageous and heroic to fight for a different future. And she wrote a fabulous book a few years ago it is so worth reading. Good for her that brings me to another argument and chelsea i will give this to you. You watch your mother into the world of politics with all the incoming you just mentioned a number of women who are running for office with personal tragedies what would we tell young girls . Encouraging kids to be involved. Number one thank you that young people are not so young people to be overwhelmed or look at those two online or offline. With those unprecedented numbers but also running for county commissioner so if this is something you feel old one feel called to do and if you are interested in criminal Justice Reform then run for state Legislature Like sheriffs jails so think about what you want to change to be confident and qualified qualified to make that change and then run for office. I have organization colon were together with groups of Young Political activist to recruit candidates like run for something to have thousands and thousands of people running for office and the color of change in all these groups that we support because when you make that decision you want to do this you need to learn what that means and how to go about it. And they can give a lot of good support and training now want to be part of campaigns. So first you all see this book cover and it is fascinating. Because youd a lot that women go unnamed door unnoticed or unappreciated or unrecognized the photo explains why you wrote the books and tell us about tha that. And maybe for a long time to be a snapshot after the attack on pearl harbor and yes thanks to a librarian and wanted to know more about this photograph and so she dug in that actually from the summer and a Training Exercise all of the women at pearl harbor that has the majority of the firefighting crew and was determined to identify who the women are it was only able to identify four out of five but now we know their names. Catherine, alice and hilda. And with the history and with that captured but also to give the name of these women that were practicing that later we know were called to help after the attack. Its also an interesting story that the photograph represents. When i was growing up , basically i was told and i was taught there were no women firefighters. This was 1941 with a Training Exercise so i want people to understand millions of women in the workforce in world war ii were in factories and offices. That is what affected the lives so after the war is to give these jobs back to the men coming home and we need to go back home so these cycles that were finally broken is the passage of title ix or that legislation that made it possible. But also in academics for people to have the same rights to study and pursue sports. Think about this. Before her title ix and the godmothers in the book and an academic. Before her title ix how many people played soccer now theres over 390,000 and when we were writing this we were really motivated because those women all benefited from title ix but also stars another nation seems coming to the United States to play collegiate soccer and they also are benefiting. So there are rhythms to all of this in part of this motivation is to make sure that we dont go backwards and dont have rights taken away and with overt discrimination standing in the way of young women. I did a book signing last night at Barnes Noble Union square with chelsea and we had to cut it off at a thousand people and two different women said i am in finance in the city and it rubbed us so hard and even harder now. And now to say were not going to go back or give up or the handmaids tale. [applause] i also think for those of us who want a lot when title ix was passed into think the broader effects on academics and research so that was people in her field because to solidify the proof and thats about all i understand of dark matter. [laughter] but graduating from college really wanted to go to the program at princeton and they said they didnt accept women. It didnt change until 1975. I say that because sometimes become so much further than we have and we made more progress on those timelines but of course and look at that statistic my mom mentioned from soccer just to make that much progress. [applause] i want to Say Something about title ix because i benefited because i was starting college when it happened that would not have happened. But there was a big opportunity difference and i just want to remind all of you with everything thats hunkydory and thought to be forced on so many campuses in decades afterwards there is a big argument but guys cant play football or whatever and the assumption so it was long ongoing battle just to get it enforced and we shouldnt forget that. The young women are amazing we mention most of them and mention anne frank which is a number of young women who have spoken truth to power with her little background one with her little backpack and then shot in the head and now greta basically singlehandedly launched an entire environmental movement. [applause] but i feel like you have to talk about because her story is not wellknown nine months before rosa parks sat on the bus so while we respect and revere rosa parks but cold and was want of the plaintiffs of the District Court ruling upheld by the Supreme Court that you ruled bus segregation illegal in Montgomery Alabama and she was 15 years old and just said she felt like she had Harriet Tubman on one shoulder and Sojourner Truth the other and could not stand up. So talk about young people we have to remember her because she deserves to be remembered. When she started for the climate she was the only person who showed up for weeks and then slowly the other people would join her and it became a global Mass Movement as we have seen over the last few weeks but thats what i want to emphasize in addition to being a determined abject doing what we should do with respect to climate she has persevered with her very strong faith one person can make a difference or spark others to join. As often happens when you stick your head out, has engendered millions of young people wanting to be a part but also an enormous amount of blowback and then has been criticized and marginalized and made fun of how she speaks her presents herself how she looks and everything about her is undermined and doing so to recognize the power of her example across the world so this is another part of this and often times and it holdens case she went to jail, was arrested and was in a very difficult position legally everybody from donald trump to Vladimir Putin has criticized her that shows she is on the right track. [laughter] [applause] so the young people are telling us that you have to be willing to be defiant. That can take different forms so chelsea you talk about who is this rabble rousing done one nine in the 17th century and you mentioned and what would happen if she was in the senate today but here is why. Today is the oneyear anniversary of the confirmation of Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and as we remember those wrenching hearings in which doctor ford that nobody had ever heard of before came forward and then we know another leader the senator from maine was the outcome of the whole debate process it was divided into two camps i am raising this because it reminds us of the reality which is so much what your book is about. Is not just the challenges of abuse but that is certainly part of it but the narrative that they just dont have validity historically and like a nine in the 17th century takes huge chances and rocking the boat to do it and thats because it is a story written by men about me men, and intel we have these foundations that value the spaces for women and this is one of the reasons you write the book and i was taken chelsea by one of your examples that she wrote a memoir in 1883 and won the Nobel Peace Prize for genocide against Indigenous People but raised about the authenticity and was subjected and you know about this without hostile counter narrative and here she is in your book and you are including her. Im so grateful of those extraordinary teachers i think that i read to shout out for believing it was important that we understood what was happening around the world and also the United States role in that. So i read this book at ten or 11 and was so struck in a way that now to talk about how privileged i was in ways that i had not even understood. She won the Nobel Peace Prize and making personal things that were more personal even if she had written them herself and to understand the tradition of testimonial that happens to be the narrative to whatever standard they were holding her to and her grace and grit and that articulation that was her truth that she is still fighting and her and her foundation are trying to hold accountable the provocateurs and executioners of genocide that with the stood the personal and then to go back to guatemala and ran for office and supported other indigenous and still fighting for justice incredibly inspiring and in some ways even more when you first read her book 25 years ago and because it was just so heroically to persist she could just not imagine doing anything else. You are right. The stories need to be told and a lot of times they are not just about individuals but a larger social reality. That is an important point that chelsea wanted to make but its also true for women in the book and you mentioned Margaret Chase smith. If you read her statement of conscience, there is a great story we put into the book that she is in the senate. And the fact is Joseph Mccarthy is smearing people and is getting away with it largely and she has had enough and cannot tolerate it anymore. She is no flamethrower or rebel but but she writes how she is on the subway that takes you from the Office Buildings to the capital and mccarthy is on the subway says you seem so serious we make a speech and she said yes and you will not like it. [laughter] so she not only calls him now but the Republican Party for failing to rein him in for that behavior. Where she today quick. It was a very lonely position for several years because he wasnt finally held to account until president eisenhower and others basically made it clear they had gone too far. So a lot of the people that we profile in the book had moments like that and part of the reason we choose the ones that we do is because they rose to the moment. Billie jean king at our first event in brooklyn a few nights ago i played tennis when i was a kid and she was just so ferocious. But i also really appreciated how she stood up for other tennis players she would stay up all night how to get equal pay for women to make she would have one a lot more titles. And she has no regrets she has a great picture meeting venus and Serena Williams and one of their little girls so she was somebody who had this incredible talent through this fierce competitive spirit that she used on behalf of others to make statements by what she did and what she said. So those are the people we need to hear more from and need to be honoring and supporting. Its not easy. We see that all the time but its necessary. History will look kindly. We hope so. There is an angry gorilla we havent touched on yet but secretary clinton thank you for coming to speak at gw openly most the authoritarian regimes due to political opponents what do you want to send to restore the democratic leadership around the globe . [applause] i have been encouraged the polling Public Opinion suggests the call to the ukrainian president has broken through may be other actions not in terms of the threat to our constitution the back in 1974 it was incredibly solemn and deliberative effort because basically the founders decided elections had to be held at the ballot box but they could be between elections they had such behavior that was damaging to the system of government to abuse of power were that impeachment was a rare but necessary entity. I. C. E. Supported Speaker Police eat one Speaker Pelosi when she decided you could not walk away from the evidence provided first by a wessel blower one whistleblower but then confirmed by the white house that he is trying to extort from the ukrainian president. Now think about this. When you have a president calling on foreign adversaries for assistance in his political campaign, which he did in 2016 and is doing again , it goes right to the heart of our sovereignty, National Security in a way that is almost unimaginable i cannot imagine any other president ever even thinking about this. So here we are and the evidence is only more compelling about what he and his Close Associates and secretary of state were up to in trying to maneuver this young president of ukraine into doing his political work. And then of course yesterday the president said he wished china would also investigate the bidens. I joked about that a few months ago. I said the 2016 election trump basically said russia if you are listening you will be richly rewarded if you can find Hillary Clintons emails. It was all out in the open and of course they hacked the dnc in my campaign et cetera. So now its also in the open if you want to help defend your country but first we have a favor to ask please go talk about joe biden and his son which is another side show which is help us try to undermine the Mueller Report that the russians interfered in the election because trump knows the president was illegitimate with a legitimate help. [cheers and applause] but the whistleblower did come forward but the people in the room listening to transcend of the conversation which often happens in the white house you want to have a good record figuring out what the president said people listening were so alarmed they immediately hear the transcript from anyone who has any reason to be working on behalf of the state department or any intel agencies and they tried to hide it in a server that is supposed to only hold the most highly classified secrets of the country. We know the ukraine investigation improve ambassador voelker provided evidence now diplomats it is crazy to withhold military aid to have health on your political campaign. Now it is crazy that she do Vladimir Putins bidding. So there is another mention of this that will potentially be uncovered. So we have several adversaries that are highly adept at cyberwarfare russia and china and north korea and iran. So iran is attacking at least one democratic campaign. All bets are off the four governments think they can tilt the Playing Field against me which was deliberate wellplanned effort laid out in indictments against Russia Military actors and their allie allies, then republicans seem to think then so far they play on the red team we like it but whos to say next week they play on the blue team . It is crazy, my friends. Impeachment is the appropriate remedy and it is such a serious assault on our democracy that is apparently asked for aided and abetted not only by the president either he doesnt care or understand how deeply dangerous this is i am all in favor of what the house is doing to gather the evidence to make the case because this president has to be held to account. Unconstitutional abuse of power and his contempt of congress and obstruction of justice. [cheers and applause] one more point. If you did not know Barbara Jordan or had not heard of her recently, you can read what we wrote about her in the boo book, that go back and read what she says as a firstterm member of Congress Sitting on the Judiciary Committee facing impeachment as why she wanted not only to defend the constitution but make very clear if the constitution with the remedy of impeachment does not cover the behavior presented to the committee then what did it mean . You can also google it or watch it or listen to it and watch her make one of the most powerful speeches in the 20th century. There has so much awfulness this man has inflicted on us but one of the really most troubling things is the blatant misogyny and sexism and anybody who has been around you and works for you with that National Consciousness has watched the degree of the misogynistic hateful violent imagery and language and its upsetting. And so many women in the book have been subjected to incredible genderbased violence. Its not that far of a stretch and there is a lot of women in the book who had horrible things done. Like the swimmer who was abused by her trusted coach for many years. And the Environmental Justice activist in kenya. A brave journalist who works with the corruption and drug cartel raped and tortured and left for dead. In 2009 at the democratic republic of congo we visited the doctor who spent his life of womens bodies subjected to rape as a tactic of war and won the Nobel Peace Prize with a woman you feature in the book that many of you have heard of that she was forced into sexual slavery by isis now at the un prickle this is awful and its getting worse under this president with that culture of perpetuating hostility and vitriol toward women. I dont really know how to settle and what we make of these stories . Women have to be continually victimized and brutalized before we Pay Attention to their stories and understand what they are subjected to and what this will take. The answer is multi variabl variable. We need more robust laws and enforcement and resources, support, women who have been brutalized and victimized and subjected to horrific violence. We know we need not to cut down the people that qualify for asylum so we can give them safe harbor. [applause] for anyone fleeing violence particularly women. And i do think there is an important part that we dont talk about for those who have soraya survived horrific things there is a woman the founder from unchained at last tirelessly working to ensure no child is ever married here in the United States. [applause] i raise this because i do think we send a pretty powerful signal how we value the autonomy in general Self Determination of girls and allow them to be married at 14 and there are places here in that it states where they can be married at 12 or 13 or 14 we have made more than 200,000 just since 2000. Not only what often seems obvious but we have to tackle but raise the marriage age and there are no exceptions. So what we do talk about with Human Trafficking and ensuring that we invest more to make sure women get out of dangerous situations and can recover what that entails like the work to end Child Marriage that is still a huge problem here in 2019. And want to underscore the importance of women who obtain leadership positions. [applause] because there are examples in our book of women who became elected leaders and did not forget where they came from. So here in our country so to become a member of congress and the first africanamerican woman elected to Congress Fearless to stand up for the poor and the needy that the criticism that she got was more for a woman than being black. She never let anybody forget that. Geraldine ferraro on the Vice President ial nominee was a staunch advocate for womens rights and a really great voice in the political space. And two women president s that we highlight once who was elected twice to be president in chile and also in other elected twice to be president in liberia. Both of them were subjected to torture and beatings and caught up in the conflicts of their countries and in michelles case with a dictatorship her daughter was tortured and died in prison. Her and her mother were tortured and then deported. And she never ever forgot what happened and was determined to bring a more peaceful transition and future to her country but also stand up for young people and women like Ellen Johnson certainly caught up in the civil war in liberia to be jailed and you think how they persevered and then become the highest official in their respective countries they spoke out on behalf of women and girls and changed laws that would try to give more support and of course the Nobel Prize Winner along with ellen to help with the liberian civil war is such a hero because of what she did to organize women to stand up against the warlords it is really worth looking at. So you are right you can get all kinds of abuse physical, sexual, verbal, emotil and i know its hard to keep doing that and its not any kind of judgment if they totally want to drop out and retreat are putting their heads out there but they kept going back or if they were advocates for change that goes back to the question so that you need and follow and then forced into a religiously mandated marriage at a young age physically abused by her husband when she finally left him she had to leave her community because it was not accepted. And then going statebystate. With the permission of the parent but often times so now two states have raised the age of marriage determined to do everything she can to make that happen so not just about the past. I will get in trouble because we are out of time. So we have learned a lot of lessons from chelsea. From the time she was a little girl she was so ignited by injustice if she ever saw mean to somebody because she was a huge sound of music fan to talk about maria van trap when she was five years old and her president reagan would visit a cemetery in germany and that the nazis were not nice people she wrote a letter to president reagan asking please not to go to the cemetery and if one that watches sound of music knows that they should not. [laughter] so her spirit is so strong and i personally love to follow her on twitter. [laughter] because she gives the shade to all of the haters that are on their. [applause] i have a whole rainbow and heart stickers. [laughter] and then to justify even only their eight and a half minutes and to think any second was too much to be effectively be paying homage at a nazi cemetery because it included ss leadership. But i never got a letter back. But i felt like he shouldve written me back and ive held a grudge. [laughter] or said thank you for the Rainbow Heart stickers. [laughter] but when my dad one in 1982 what you hope will happen out of this experience . I said i want every kid to get a response if they ever write to the president or a first lady or the white house. [applause] so my mom created a white house childrens unit within the Correspondence Office at least i dont know if it still happens but at least through the obama administration. [laughter] there was an effort to track the letters that especially kids got a response from the president. [applause] im so grateful to my mom for doing that. Your spirit is contagious a quote from Gloria Steinem that says im handing it to others and i thank you the torch is lit and lighting torches for every day and now with these incredible stories of women that we can all share across the world and generations. Thank you so much. [cheers and applause] one woman found her purse and she was grateful for the womens efforts what she really wanted back was survival you dont want them to caution. Yes i do we dont thank you want it and to say want my bible that that was tossed in the trash thrown away with other things so when they caught wind of that conversation she thought it was impossible but as a catholic she understood what the bible into a grieving mother and also was working with the national fbi Rapid Response team to help local Police Agencies with mash casualty events they have dealt with others and brought them critical Lessons Learned including many parents wanted their childrens personal effects like backpacks and drawings no matter how damaged they could salvage even the most bloodsoaked items so after the shooting antonio had called to ask the counterpart for those two storage buildings for those that they had turned away they hauled out several big plastic bins that contain the lifeanddeath of nine people with gloved hands antonio rummage through papers that clung to a dark brown bedsheet. And there sat a dark leather bound bible soaked in blood a bullet had pert pierced the pages for gushy open the cover stuck between the pages was a little torn off piece was a receipt felicia sanders. Antonia wrapped it up and send it to add the company in texas and two months later a box appeared in the mail she drove down the winding road and knocked on her front door felicia greeted her although her eyes were fogged with grief she managed to smile. So that effort that it took with the end the stream to talk with her through the investigation and with that circle of family and friends. She decided to do it quick as she walked inside she held out the box. Felicia took it from her and opened it and there sat the bible that she called the basic instructions before leaving earth and open the front cover now tented the paper inside. And where that pierce the pages but despite the gunshot and the blood and the cleansing god was still with her. So she brought the bible with her to the sentencing hearing and held it up and said something to the effect i have forgiven you but nobody can help you until you help yourself. And she brought it with her to show him that no matter what happened it was still hers and i felt that was a special moment. Host joining us to discuss is izone who served as Senior Adviser to fcc chair tom wheeler for several years and is currently with the Georgetown Law Institute for technology and Patrick Halley who is senior Vice President at u. S. Telecom, a trade association here in washington d. C. Mr. Halley, before we put on our advocates hats, give us a lawyers assessment of what the d. C. Court of appeals rule ared. Guest so what the d. C. Court of appeals ruled w