Judiciary committee. Three of the experts testifie that the president had committed impehable offenses a in pressurinforeign power to open an investigation into a political rival. Also this week, california senator, harris announced shg is dout of the president ial race. Harris had gotten off to a strong start with an impressive performance th the first president ial debate held in june. Since then, her mpaign was marred by infighting and muddled messaging on key issues such as healthcare. W th us is l. A. Times political reporter melanie mason. She joins us via skype from los angeles. Thank you for being here, melanie. Thank you for having me. In thstudio Political Writer carl m iannci. Carla, i want to start with you. It has been a big thweek in impeachment inquiry. We know Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced yesterday s she directed the house committees to draft these articles of impeachment. Can you quickly walk us through what happens now. Now we have got come in the house judiciary committee, they will take upthese articles of impeachment. We may hear from President Trump, from some lawys of the House Intelligence Committee th an issue with a e arting monday. Federal judge and subpoenas up on tuesday. Today, the Trump Administration basically said the president is not going to participate in this. Which is what we have seen all along, one of e attacks on the process but no to join the process. Do you think this decision weekend or strengthened chumps hand in this whole thing. I think everything abouis mpeachment process will be seen through a partisan lens. The republicans are going to cheer chump on and say this is a phony process any witchhunt or arthe democrats going to say there he goes again complaining about a process, but not trying to participate in it. I think we are back where we started and this is still goin to get more and more dramatic. We will see the house will be able to wrap this up by ristmas which is what they want. But who knows how this is going to go. I want to turn t president soon. But before we get there, you have covered nancy pelosi a long time. She really has become the driver of this process. So much control and she really resisted it until the raine scandal broke. What political calculations you think the speaker has made in the last few weeks . Tothis point,as you said, she was very careful in the beginning talking about how this is going to affecterher me how devices divisive it uld be for the country. That was a blower and the ukraine revelations changed everything for her. As she said this week this is about the constitution, not about the ection anymore. It is about pro congressional rights of oversight and its also about issues like obstruction of justice. We are going to see how far these impeachment articles go. Are they going to include obstruction of justice and the corruption, and maybe the russia investigation. So we will atsee how goes. But what pelosi is, is now the driver. Want to bring melanie in here. We now support for lypeachment is resplit upon party lines and the country is very split on this. Im curious, as some te coveri 2020 race and out in districts around the nation, how do you think this is playing in for the president ial candidates but also for cr congressional des who might be defending their seats against republican attacks essentially. I think to take the congressional question first. Carlins carlas statement about this being seen through congressional linens, it has not changed polling very much. Evenses we have all of this being done in the House Intelligence Committee before that. I do think we have en some outside groups coming i particularly to the aid of president trk trying to scare off some of these house thdemocratins. D i particularly if they are in e some of thmore purple districts. It doesnt seem like so far anyone has been loosening in their resolve. In i , on the other side of the ledger, in the president ial race, there is a real practical implicatre that if the house decides to impeach the president and it moves over to impeachment trial happening right in the middle of the height of the primary season. So we have a number of candidates who are senators who may not be ab to beon the trail on the lead up to some of these key contest because i have to beonin washindc for an impeachment trial. If you are senator Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders or amy klobuc r. Youre probaboking at this and say does my january look substantially different than i thought it would a couple a months ago . Lot of flights. One senator who does not have to make that calculation is, let harris from lifornia. She goout of the race. You have been covering hers and she launched thcampaign in january. What went wrong . It started off so promising for Kamala Harris. I thatk those expens that were set from the very beginning, thats really sort of dazzling lunch rally in oakland, really strongfirst debate performance against joe biden set expectations that gh would be for any politician to hit and particularly someone like Kamala Harris , she had the kind of raw attributes that should make a strong politician. But the truth is, it never quite clicked into gear. I think for those of us, all o have covered her in california before she was a president ial candidate. I think we saw some of e tendencies that may be cahamper her er sometimes in california really playing out in the president ial race. I think particularly sometimes this instinct utfor n, maybe the senator second guessing her in thanks for that led to a muddled message that made it hard for her to make a single core pch about why her in this very crowded president ial field. I think a lot of people generally like Kamala Harris. I think e made a good impression on democratic primary voters. When you have so many candidates to choose from and so many who had a very justification for reason for winning or for running, she could not tefer a co argument that swayed enough people. Carla, i want to bring you in here too. Hammed Saeed Alshamrani u had harriss sister cochaiaing the ca. A lot of upheaval, as melanie mentioned, within that campaign. But also these questions about someone who has covered her so long, what do you think was the biggest challenge here i think she learned that running a president ial campaign nning a statewide campaign. Rom i have never seen a campaign that was so focused on a circular firing squad. She had internal divions going on in that campaign that didnt help her. And then her messaging was an issue. She didnt seem to know where she was when it came to major issues like medicare for caall. She out of the box talking about how strong she was as a prosecutor. That was her motto. E people, yet when she took fire from progressive democrats about that role in scrutiny about that role, she seemed to back away from it. Trying to ease everyone, as mel said, sometimes too cautious. All of those things came together and the coverage covered that. We saw castro, another candidate of color really lash out at the media saying that Kamala Harris was held to a different standard because she uwas a woman of color. I kind of wonder if she held herself to different standard because she knew how hard, she has known how hard it is to run. Maybe that caution,t what do you make of that attack . Cannot remember when she came very glowing coverage all over the country. She did have, there were some hurdles and i have to s she took some heat that otatr cand didnt take. Say with her relationship with willie brown. There were a lo of trolout there on the internet, a lot of negative coverage on that. That is not the kind of coverage tha lot of male candidates get about their dating history. I think on that, yeah. But with regard to how her campaign fell down. The issues, the internal debas. I think we were straightforward in the coverage on that. The l. A. Organizations looked is ucampaign in a critical and fairway. You are running to for president , you are going to have some tough questionwa melanie, i to come back to you. The l. A. Times told us this week with uc berkeley saying that the democratic race in californ is still very fluid. It did show warren losing some first place. Ie sanders now in buttigieg really doubling his support over the last pole. Biden still in the mid teens what is itgoing to take for something to happen in this race and for someone to break out . It feels it is so up in the air still so late. My account, Bernie Sanders is the fourth person to now primary poll which just goes to show the leaderboard really f. Trading i think to the point of what is it going to take . I think there are a cofale of ors here. The first is, as much as we have been following this obsessively for the last year, it is still early. People have not started voting yet, i think there will be a of the year. After i think for california as we keep reminding voters all the time our primary is meearlier this of round, we can make our voices heard earlier. An 20 i think you might get people firming up a little more of their preferences there. I think the othefactor is when campaigns really start to flex muscle here in the state. Various campaigns have Different Levels of infrastructure. Sanders has 80 paid staff in the state. He really has baked on california as being crucial to his strategy. Joe biden doesnt have any paid staff based in the state at all. Even though there are staff focusing on california. I ink you sethat discrepancy. And then there is the question of those who are coming d taking tothe airwaves. We all know that california tv is king when it comes to political campaigns. We have already seen tom stier out on the airways and oomichae erg the former new york mayor. He has the resources to blanket exactly what hes doing. I think our pulp captured the very beginning of that but i dont think that we have fully seen what the impact of this deluge of ads will be. Ocourse appldid not show a lot of love for Michael Bloomberg in this state. But we will see, like you said we have time yet and people are just beginning to watch. L,llie mason from politi thank you very much. Thank you. Nancy pelosi isthe most aker powerful woman in america. In cajanuary, she speaker a second time after democrats flipped control of the house and set a Record Number of women to congress. In recent weeks, nancy pelosi has championed House Democrats impeachment investigation of President Trump and made a case to it to a skeptical public. A new book by her daughter christine, describes the political and negotiatinha skills i made Speaker Pelosi such a formidable leader. Joining me now is author and chair of the California Democratic party womens caucus christine pelosi. Thank you so much for cong in. My pleasure, thank you. This book is aimed at giving young women the choice to become leaders. One chapter is entitled to claim your at at the table. You talk about what your mom arrived in washington in the late 80s that wabasically she asked to give a list of priorities to the male congressman and told to st aside. How does she react to that and what do you take from how she handled thatkind of thing . Nancy pelosi was first elected to congress there were 12 Democratic Women and 11 republican women in the entire 435 member congress. Imagine 23 women in a field of 43so she and Barbara Boxer were two of the 12 and they were , they became very Close Friends and allies and they quickly realized en they would have conversation men, they were never asked their opinion. Even one night when the men were talkthg about childb surely youre going to ask us now and they still didnt. We need more amma we need more women at the table, we need more people of color at the table noand with nancy pelosi as speaker there are 90 Democratic Women, only 15 republican women so theyve got some w do. But the idea being that not only do you claim your seat e the tabut you bring other people with you and in Nancy Pelosis congress who are not only a he of the table, you are at the head of the table with the gavel. Exactly. How she handled and how she has brought in women anymore diverse Democratic Caucus had a set track with what she learned early in her career. Th as party ader here in San Francisco amma but also as a mom. Will, nancy pelosi raised five kids. We were born six years apart so there we a lot ofus. A lot of logistics. A lot of every day, every night making sure that we were prepared for school. Four of us went to the sacred heart for a combined 48 years. That meant every night checking our homework, making sure our uniforms were pressed, we had everything prepar for the next day. Every morning making sure we had our bus fare. Organizational skills. Naturally, he had to beer organized day. She would say proper preparation prevents poor performance. But when you are raisina child you know if every morning they had to be fed and clothed and off to school and preparedsa its the thing when you are a member of congress. You know there is an election season, a transition season, a budget season, and appropriation season. You have to be ready for all those things. Ould not be surprises and hey that is why she is able to deliver so much of San Francisco cause she knows the rhythm of the congress and how to get things done. Your book has, on the cover, a photo Speaker Pelosi. The book opens with the story of that photo which is now this infamous 2018 meeting where the speaker pushed back to President Trump on yecamera. Just erday we saw some of that personality on display again in washington where the speaker was asked by reporter if she quote hits president trum lets take a look at how she reacted. Do yohate the president , speaker . I dont hate anybody. I rese you using the word hate in a sentence that addresses me. I dont hate anyone. I was raised in a wayat is a heart full of love and always pray for the president and i pray for the president all t. The time. So dont mess with me when it comes to words ke that. Said nancy pelosi saying i pray for the president , dont mess with me. What was your reaction and whatt dot tell you about, or as her daughter, as someone who knows well the way she reacted to that . I wod not messwith nancy pelosi. I learned the hard way that is not a smart thing to do. But also, nancy pelosi was raised in baltimore maryland in a liitle italy comm saintly roast parish. She was raised by nuns. In fact when she was growing up she had these brothers that were groomed for politics and they thought she might be a non which would make this conversation impossible. But the fact the matter is, she does go to church every sunday, she is ry, very much a person of faith, a woman of faith. So for someone toimply that a staunch devout catholic by nancy pelosi is motivated out of anytng other than love was deeply, deeply offensive to her and that is what you saw yesterday. And that is what we constantly see. We are the city of st. Francis, when she is attacked for having San Francisco values she said the incity of francis, the values of healthcare for oe valupeace, the value of community that she is very proud to represent you and we saw some ofdathat yestand we saw a little bit of righteous anger when she puts up that finger. That mom finger, you know trouble is coming. I know you talk to your moy evy or almost every day. This is not unusual for her to be attacked. We saw tens of thousas of ads run against her. Sometimes by people in her own party in the 2018 cycle. Republans, the president often takes to twitter in the airways to attack her. How do you think she feels about those attacks . Hotadoes she to you guys, as gring up, how to deal with criticism . She always had, and we talk about this the nancy pelosi way. Ef criticism anctiveness go handinhand. When you go out there and are effective they criticize you. And you are not affectt they dore and will ignore you. Rather than power you to do things yourself. When she first ran for congress in San Francisco she was vicisosly attacked by of the other candidates. She would say they cant take my children from me so they cant ve me any harm. Now, when you look at the 2018 campaign cycle, 137,000 negative ads, inhauding a ful by democrats, most by the republicans. But her focus is the one to five children in america who live in poverty and the parents of children who were murdered due to gun violence. His children were taken away fromalhem. You cant look apparent in the eye that has a sick child who has lost a child and say well, trump treated me mean today so i can to work for you. From all the lessons you have learned from yournow very famous mother, what is the most valuable on a professional and personal level . To have your own authentic lf. As nancy pelosi always says we talked about in the book, no and show your wife. You have to know your ll to service, your purpose. Why are you there, what are you doing, how are you there to help peopl power only matters if you are using it to help other people. A lot of people have tr endous problems politics by the hazing, the bullying, very active in fighting sexual. Harassment in politi people think that the trappings of power are such that they allow you to lord it over other people. Si nancy pe would tell you that the wato have power isnt to have the trappings of power but to constantly give it away by empowering other people and using your power to make progres in the of other people. We will have to leave it there. Christina pelosi, thank you so much. My pleasure, thank you. We are well into holiday season. A time of year when we gather with friends and family to enjoy good food and good times. But we are not all meike. Familyers come in all stripes. How do we stay connected with those we love despite political and religious dio erences . Herehelp us now is marriage and family therapist daniel ellenberg. Thank you for coming in. My pleare. Lets start with a look at the problem. You conduct workshops in dealing with Difficult Conversations. One of the toughest topics these days honestly is politics. How can we have conversations about things like the impeachment inquiry and democratic primary without making it so personal . Its nearly impossible not make it personal because of how we are wired as human u beings. When think about it, the whole believes you shouldnt talk about religion politics , that has been around for many, many decades if urnot ces. Before this time right now. Way before, way before. If you look at how the brain forms, it forms around our identity and people identified with a particular way of being. Therare certain values and visions about if you are democratic or republican. Which is not to sathere are just two camps. Thre is a wide pathway there. The people believe thats who they are. So when you question someones beliefs about you believe this . There is a sense of what is wrong with you . It feels personal. Is it personal. So we have to really step away. Instead of saying its just rsonal. , it is actually ry so that is part of the problem e because pedo tend to take things personally. When they are questioned about something with a look why would you believe something idiotic like that . Then they tend to feel threatened. That feels like, maybe not the best way to frame somethg , but yeah, are there better ways to talk about these things . Come up. Evenif you try to avoid them. I have changed my tune about this. I tend to be an outlies in te my willingness to bring things up and i encourage upeople to be open and direct. Whin i have seen the last three years, frankly has me far more circumspect. My approach right now is like if you really want to have a great time at your , christmas dinnere is a high likelihood t at talking ab politics is not going to lead you there. What is the strategy for not feeling attacked yourself, not getting defensive if other people are not taking your advice and are bringing it up. Is there a way we can check ourselves to think about how we react . There are two different parts of this. One of them has to do with how i you look yourself. Basically, as human beings, we are wired for a survive state or should thri straight thrive state. When you feel threatened you tend to become defensive. When i got is something you can feel somsoimes, right . Tely. You just need to tune into yourself about that. You notice your heart is racing, your throat has gotten try. You can start to speak to yourself and say its okay, you are going to get through this. And breathing, as much as we hear it is good to take a long, because that teto trigger s. What is called the parasympathetic nervous system which tends to make us feel more calmer and more connected. Rather being in the fight or flight reaction of the sympathetic nervous system. The other part of it, when someone blindside to you, you have come in their, youve got a great plan, im not going to go there, absolutely no way im going ere. You coin and someone says gosh, what about that trump or at about pelosior what about whoever. Why would you believe Something Like that. They come up in a very comfortable way confrontational way to you. I think its good to have ina plan in. If you decided you are not going to go there, you say hey, i want have a good time and m sure yowant to have a good time, this is probably not a conversation that is going to lead usinto feelin particularly connected. Maybe another time we can talk about this, but probably not ound the christmable. With everybody else. What is it you think, because its not just politics. Theres a lot about the holidays that are very stressful for people getting together with their families, spending extended time. Is it the holidays or is it just that extended exposure e ople in your life . Yes. All of it . If you think aboufamilies they have all kinds of issues and dynamics that have been going on for years, if no decades. So it looked like john and mary had fights as a kidand there is a four year difference and john is always critical of mary. And she is distrustful of him in some ways, doesnt feel safe with him. Doesnt feel like she really express herself and he will be criticizing or sarcastic with her. Its t like thsuddenly changes because you are sitting at a holidaytable. All of those dynamics are the. And some people we naturally know we feel safer with and more connected with. Other people we are are more suspicious about because we felt threatened by them and feltain in relation them. u rights, and you have that ui want to ask too, when you have kids the calculation changes around some of those. U maybe something are willing to take from a parent or a relative, you dont waex to se your child to. But i also wonder if there is a value to your kid saying u have Difficult Conversations and actually coming to resolution. How do you think about that lance . There is a huge value to that. When it comes to having difficult conversaons, the most important part is to feel at least relatively safe yourself. And part of that has to do with how rious are yoto really understand the other person . If you can really step back an go how is it that youve come to that position . I really want to understand. Its what my wife and i called as opposed to the listener defender position which is homost people listen. Said to come with an open heart and mind. Maybe put yourself in someone elses shoes. I want to talk about something a likyle more trtacky which is physically sharing space. I live in a two bedroom apartment, my parents were in town for an extended period of tid i love them dearly. But its hard to figure out a way to get people to fit into your life when its already so crowded. How you talk about broaching the issue of boundaries. Whether they be physical or even tied to emotional . What would be an example . Are you saying on some level your mother coming into the bathroom en you are in the bathroom . Or bringing too much stuff with her, packing my refrigerator full of things. Yeah, juterally physically sharing the space can be hard sometimes. Absolutely. I think the clarity is the beginning of it, just noticing something is not quite working for you. Sometimes it is really helpful to have these conversations in you know, so ifyou want your parents to bring less stuff because its going to crowd, probably good to tell them before th pack. Obviously, when you gohave a relation with your parents you have a sense of what their defensive so, unsettles on some levels you can give them a little crumb. I love you so much, love you but can you give me a little more space right now . The main thing is how kind and compassionate you can be. Having kids is a very different experience. I think sometimes relative have ideas about how you should raise your children. How do you protect your kids fromthat kind of thing . Protecting your kids or protecting yourse. . Maybe bo [ laughter ] on some levels you are a rome model with your kids. Yo can say we dont speak exactly like that. And of course every time you step out and yoyoexpress self in a way that tiis cr a boundary, you are taking a risk. On some level, it really taps into our willingness to be courageous. Because courage is something showing up all the time in relationships a is alsome level of risk when you are setting a boundary. But what i found, the more people practice that and the more changes it bring, that over time shockingly enough, it gets easier. Not easy, but easier. All right, we ll have to leave it there. Thank you so much daniel. That will do it for ys. As alyou can find more of our coverage at kqed. Org newsroom. I am alicia lagos. Thank you for joining us. Kqed therks our me and Community Partners for their support. Robert the speaker pushes ahead on impchment. This is about the constitution of the United States and the facts that leads to the president s violation of his oath of office. Preside is a continuing threat to that constitution and our democracy. Robert and republicans fight back. Impeachment hearings today reached a new low. President trump its a hoax. Its a big fat hoax. Robert what does it meanen for presid trump and the nation . Announcer this is washinweek. N before we talk about your investments, whats new . Wl,udreys expecting. Twins. Grandparents. We want t put money aside for them so change in plans. Lets see what we