• Moe Factz with Adam Curry for May 12th 2020, Episode number 36

• "Lego my Joeco"

• Download the mp3

• Executive Producer: Drew Sample

• Associate Executive Producers:
  • Chris Bailey
  • Victoria Webb
  • Elvis Rosenberg

• Description
  • Adam and Moe do a Pot Luck of Politics and Pizza

• ShowNotes
  • Lego Masters (American TV series) - Wikipedia
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    • US reality competition television series
    • Lego Masters (stylized as LEGO Masters) is an American reality competition television series based on the British series of the same name. Each episode features teams of two building Lego projects from a vast array of bricks and parts to meet both creative and practical goals set by the challenge for a particular episode. The show is hosted and executive produced by Will Arnett, with Lego Group creative designers Amy Corbett and Jamie Berard serving as the show's judges. Various guest stars have also served as hosts and judges.[1]
    • The first season aired on Fox from February 5, 2020, through April 15, 2020, as the lead-out to the third season of The Masked Singer. While not yet officially renewed, the program is expected to return for a second season in early 2021.[2]
    • Format [ edit ] The series follows teams consisting of two Lego-building competitors, tasked with building creations out of Lego pieces based on a given theme within a given time period. After the allotted time to build, the teams demonstrate their creations to host Will Arnett and two expert judges from the Lego Group: Amy Corbett, a senior design manager at Lego, and Jamie Berard, who oversees the Lego Creator Expert and Lego Architecture lines at Lego.[3] The experts name the winning build and as well as the bottom two teams, explaining why teams were selected in this fashion. They then announce the losing team, who, save for the first week, is eliminated from the competition. In addition to this judging, Amy and Jamie provide suggestions to the teams mid-way through the build.[4] The first episode awarded the team with the best design judged by the experts with the Golden Brick, which they can use on any other challenge, after the build period but before the judging, to automatically advance to the next challenge if they do not feel confident about their work. Once they turn in the Golden Brick for immunity, it is then made available as the reward for a future challenge. The season will culminate in a finale, in which top teams compete for a $100,000, a Lego Masters trophy, and the title of Lego Master.[1][5]
    • Production [ edit ] The series is jointly produced by Endemol Shine North America, UK-based independent production company Tuesday's Child, and Plan B Entertainment.[6] All episodes were shot at Chandler Valley Center in Los Angeles.[7]
    • Casting for the series was announced at San Diego Comic Con 2019[8] and was described on the casting website as seeking "the most creative, passionate, and innovative Lego builder teams of 2."[9] The casting website stated that filming was to take place over seven weeks between October and December 2019.
    • According to Corbett, there were more than three million Lego bricks available for teams to use during the challenges.[10] Lego artist Nathan Sawaya served as a consulting producer for the show, helping to design some of the example pieces, the challenges, and the show's Lego-based trophy.[11]
    • Elimination table [ edit ] PlaceTeamRelationEpisodes123456789101Tyler & AmyMarriedSAFEWINSAFEHIGHSAFEHIGHWINWINRISK[a]WINNERS2Mark & BooneFriendsSAFESAFESAFEWINWINWIN' SAFESAFEWIN RUNNERS-UP 3Sam & JessicaFriendsRISKRISKHIGHSAFESAFESAFEHIGHRISKRISKTHIRD4Aaron & ChristianFriendsWIN' SAFESAFESAFEHIGHSAFERISKELIM5Richard & FlynnMarriedSAFESAFEWINSAFESAFERISKELIM6Jermaine & MelFriendsSAFESAFESAFESAFERISKELIM[b]7Amie & KrystleFriendsSAFESAFERISKRISKELIM8Manny & NestorSon & FatherRISKSAFESAFEELIM9Travis & CoreyBrothersSAFESAFEELIM10Jessie & KaraFriendsSAFEELIM' Team awarded the Golden Brick.
    • The team won the challenge.
    • The team was second this week.
    • The team was safe from elimination.
    • The team was safe due to using the Golden Brick.
    • The team was at risk of elimination.
    • The team was eliminated from the competition.
    • Notes ^ Tyler and Amy were told by the judges that they had the weakest build and would have been sent home if a team were to be eliminated that week. ^ Jermaine and Mel were automatically placed in the bottom two after failing to make their bridge level with their road. Episodes [ edit ] Ratings [ edit ] References [ edit ] ^ a b Thorne, Will (2019-10-30). "Will Arnett to Host 'Lego Masters' Competition Series on Fox". Variety . Retrieved 2019-11-18 . ^ Peter White (May 6, 2020). "Lego Masters: Fox Eyes Midseason Return For Will Arnett-Hosted Competition Format". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved May 6, 2020 . ^ "Interview with LEGO Masters judges, Brick Master Amy and Brick Master Jamie". brickset.com. 14 January 2020 . Retrieved 2020-01-15 . ^ Goldberg, Lesley (2019-07-18). " ' Lego Masters' Competition Series Produced by Brad Pitt a Go at Fox (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. ^ "Fox Builds Its Second Show Around a Popular Brand With Lego Masters". Adweek. ^ Denise Petski (January 9, 2019). "Lego Masters: U.S. Version Of Hit UK Series In Works By Endemol Shine North America, Tuesday's Child & Plan B". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved May 6, 2020 . ^ "LEGO Masters EP Anthony Dominici Discusses Popular Show's Effective Animation". Animation Magazine. April 15, 2020 . Retrieved April 17, 2020 . ^ Tran, Allen "Tormentalous" (2019-07-20). "LEGO Masters US Now Casting for Contestants". The Brick Fan . Retrieved 2019-11-18 . ^ "LEGO Masters". legomasters.tv . Retrieved 2019-11-18 . ^ White, Brett (February 26, 2020). "Lego Masters on Fox: Brickmaster Amy Corbett Is Helping Build a Family-Friendly Hit". Decider . Retrieved February 28, 2020 . ^ Eakin, Marah (February 4, 2020). "Lego Masters' Nathan Sawaya on a life devoted to playing with Lego". The A.V. Club . Retrieved February 4, 2020 . ^ a b c "Lego Masters Episode Listings". The Futon Critic. ^ a b "Lego Masters Episode Guide". Zap2it. ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (February 14, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: LEGO Masters Series Launch on Fox Doubles the Almost Family Fall Debut Among Adults 18-49 Within Same Time Slot". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on February 14, 2020 . Retrieved February 14, 2020 . ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (February 21, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: Survivor: Winners at War on CBS Rises Slightly from Fall Premiere of Island of the Idols". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020 . Retrieved February 22, 2020 . ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (February 21, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: Record-High Democratic Debate Viewership with Debut of Michael Bloomberg on Presidential Candidates Debate Stage". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on March 7, 2020 . Retrieved February 21, 2020 . ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (February 28, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: Real Housewives of New Jersey on Bravo Rises to Season-Highs in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49 with Tenth Season Finale". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on March 7, 2020 . Retrieved March 7, 2020 . ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (March 5, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: Volcano Live! on ABC Falls Short of Nik Wallenda's Prior Stunt Telecasts". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on March 13, 2020 . Retrieved March 13, 2020 . ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (March 13, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: Cable News Channels and ESPN's SportsCenter Covering the Coronavirus Lead Cable Telecasts". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020 . Retrieved March 20, 2020 . ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (March 19, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: Several Broadcast Network Shows Achieve Season or Multi-Season Highs in Viewers and Demos". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020 . Retrieved March 28, 2020 . ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (March 26, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: Survivor on CBS Rises to Two-Year High in Total Viewers; Chicago Med and Chicago Fire on NBC Each Hit Four-Year Best Audience Figures". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on April 4, 2020 . Retrieved April 7, 2020 . ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (April 9, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: Modern Family on ABC Rises to Three-Year Best in Total Viewers with Series Finale". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020 . Retrieved April 17, 2020 . ^ a b Pucci, Douglas (April 16, 2020). "Wednesday Final Ratings: Chicago Fire Eighth Season Finale on NBC Hits Series-High in Viewership". Programming Insider. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020 . Retrieved April 25, 2020 . External links [ edit ] Official website Lego Masters on IMDb
  • The Bear and Pizza Picture We discussed is here
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  • Jay-Z | Video | Picasso Baby (A Performance Art Film)
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    • 'ber sechs Stunden hat Jay-Z den Song am St¼ck f¼r den Videodreh performt, das Ergebnis kann sich sehen lassen. Hier ist das Video zu ''Picasso Baby''
  • Adrenochrome - Wikipedia
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    • AdrenochromeNamesIUPAC name3-Hydroxy-1-methyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-indole-5,6-dione
    • Other namesAdraxone; Pink adrenaline
    • IdentifiersChemSpiderECHA InfoCard 100.000.176InChI=1S/C9H9NO3/c1-10-4-9(13)5-2-7(11)8(12)3-6(5)10/h2-3,9,13H,4H2,1H3
    • YKey: RPHLQSHHTJORHI-UHFFFAOYSA-N
    • Y InChI=1/C9H9NO3/c1-10-4-9(13)5-2-7(11)8(12)3-6(5)10/h2-3,9,13H,4H2,1H3
    • Key: RPHLQSHHTJORHI-UHFFFAOYAD
    • O=C1\C=C2/C(=C\C1=O)N(CC2O)C
    • PropertiesC 9H 9N O 3Molar mass 179.175 g·mol''1 Density3.264 g/cm3Boiling point 115''120 °C (239''248 °F; 388''393 K) (decomposes)Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their
    • standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
    • N verify (what is Y N ?)Infobox referencesAdrenochrome is a chemical compound with the molecular formula C9H9NO3 produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine). The derivative carbazochrome is a hemostatic medication. Despite a similarity in chemical names, it is unrelated to chrome or chromium.
    • Chemistry [ edit ] In vivo, adrenochrome is synthesized by the oxidation of epinephrine. In vitro, silver oxide (Ag2O) is used as an oxidizing agent.[1] Its presence is detected in solution by a pink color. The color turns brown upon polymerization.
    • Effect on the brain [ edit ] Several small-scale studies (involving 15 or fewer test subjects) conducted in the 1950s and 1960s reported that adrenochrome triggered psychotic reactions such as thought disorder, euphoria and derealization.[2] Researchers Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond claimed that adrenochrome is a neurotoxic, psychotomimetic substance and may play a role in schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.[3] In what they called the "adrenochrome hypothesis",[4] they speculated that megadoses of vitamin C and niacin could cure schizophrenia by reducing brain adrenochrome.[5][6] The treatment of schizophrenia with such potent anti-oxidants is highly contested. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association reported methodological flaws in Hoffer's work on niacin as a schizophrenia treatment and referred to follow-up studies that did not confirm any benefits of the treatment.[7] Multiple additional studies in the United States,[8] Canada,[9] and Australia[10] similarly failed to find benefits of megavitamin therapy to treat schizophrenia. The adrenochrome theory of schizophrenia waned, despite some evidence that it may be psychotomimetic, as adrenochrome was not detectable in schizophrenics. In the early 2000s, interest was renewed by the discovery that adrenochrome may be produced normally as an intermediate in the formation of neuromelanin. This finding may be significant because adrenochrome is detoxified at least partially by glutathione-S-transferase. Some studies have found genetic defects in the gene for this enzyme.[11]
    • Legal status [ edit ] Adrenochrome is unscheduled by the Controlled Substances Act in the United States. It is not an approved drug product by the Food and Drug Administration, and if produced as a dietary supplement it must comply with good manufacturing practice.[12]
    • In popular culture [ edit ] Author Hunter S. Thompson mentioned adrenochrome in his 1971 book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The adrenochrome scene also appears in the novel's film adaptation. In the DVD commentary, director Terry Gilliam admits that his and Thompson's portrayal is a fictional exaggeration. Gilliam insists that the drug is entirely fictional and seems unaware of the existence of a substance with the same name. Hunter S. Thompson also mentions adrenochrome in his book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. In the footnotes in chapter April, page 140 he says, "It was sometime after midnight in a ratty hotel room and my memory of the conversation is haze, due to massive ingestion of booze, fatback, and forty cc's of adrenochrome."Appetite For Adrenochrome is the title of the debut album by American punk band Groovie Ghoulies.The harvesting of an adrenal gland from a live victim to obtain adrenochrome for drug abuse is a plot feature in the first episode "Whom the Gods would Destroy", of Series 1 of the TV series Lewis (2008).[13]'Adrenochrome' is a 2018 independent film directed by Trevor Simms, starring Tom Sizemore and Larry Bishop.[14]Adrenochrome is also featured in a variety of conspiracy theories, such as QAnon and Pizzagate.[15]References [ edit ] ^ MacCarthy, Chim, Ind. Paris 55,435(1946) ^ Smythies J (March 2002). "The adrenochrome hypothesis of schizophrenia revisited". Neurotoxicity Research. 4 (2): 147''50. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.688.3796 . doi:10.1080/10298420290015827. PMID 12829415. ^ Hoffer A, Osmond H, Smithies J (January 1954). "Schizophrenia; a new approach. II. Result of a year's research". The Journal of Mental Science. 100 (418): 29''45. doi:10.1192/bjp.100.418.29. PMID 13152519. ^ Hoffer A (1999). "The Adrenochrome Hypothesis and Psychiatry". The Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. 14 (1): 49''62. ^ Hoffer A, Osmond H (1967). The Hallucinogens. Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-4832-6169-0. ^ Hoffer A (1994). "Schizophrenia: An Evolutionary Defense Against Severe Stress" (PDF) . Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine. 9 (4): 205''221. ^ Lipton M; et al. (1973). "Task Force Report on Megavitamin and Orthomolecular Therapy in Psychiatry". American Psychiatric Association. ^ Wittenborn JR, Weber ES, Brown M (1973). "Niacin in the Long-Term Treatment of Schizophrenia". Archives of General Psychiatry. 28 (3): 308''15. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1973.01750330010002. PMID 4569673. ^ "Nicotinic Acid in the Treatment of Schizophrenia: A Summary Report". Schizophrenia Bulletin. 1 (3): 5''7. 1970. doi:10.1093/schbul/1.3.5 . ^ Vaughan K, McConaghy N (1999). "Megavitamin and dietary treatment in schizophrenia: a randomised, controlled trial". Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. 33 (1): 84''8. doi:10.1046/j.1440-1614.1999.00527.x. PMID 10197889. ^ John Smythies (2004). Smythies, John (ed.). Disorders of Synaptic Plasticity and Schizophrenia (1st ed.). Elsevier Academic Press. pp. xv. ISBN 9780123668608. ^ "Compound summary for adrenochrome". National Center for Biotechnology Information, PubChem Database . Retrieved 2020-01-22 . ^ "Inspector Lewis Series Synopsis". Archived from the original on 2008-06-26. ^ Trevor Simms (August 14, 2016). "Adrenochrome movie trailer". Youtube. Retrieved 26 March 2020. ^ Alex Nichols (June 6, 2019). "Slender Man for Boomers". The Outline. Retrieved 16 March 2020. External links [ edit ] Adrenochrome Commentary at erowid.orgAdrenochrome deposits resulting from the use of epinephrine-containing eye drops used to treat glaucoma from the Iowa Eye Atlas (searched for diagnosis = adrenochrome)
  • (367) mrecktv - YouTube
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  • Oprah Winfrey debunks QAnon sex trafficking conspiracy theory - The Washington Post
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    • Late Tuesday night, as results trickled in from Democratic primary elections and the number of people infected by the novel coronavirus continued to climb, Oprah Winfrey's name began trending on Twitter.
    • An unhinged conspiracy theory had taken root, claiming that she was arrested for her role in a global sex trafficking ring. It reached a point where Winfrey felt compelled to address the rumors, which quickly spread across the Internet as people bored and trapped at home searched for some form of entertainment.
    • ''Just got a phone call that my name is trending,'' Winfrey wrote on Twitter early Wednesday morning. ''And being trolled for some awful FAKE thing. It's NOT TRUE. Haven't been raided, or arrested. Just sanitizing and self distancing with the rest of the world. Stay safe everybody.''
    • Just got a phone call that my name is trending. And being trolled for some awful FAKE thing. It's NOT TRUE. Haven't been raided, or arrested. Just sanitizing and self distancing with the rest of the world. Stay safe everybody.ðŸðŸ¾
    • '-- Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) March 18, 2020The outlandish allegations were reportedly propagated by online devotees of QAnon, the bizarre conspiracy theory that ''centers on the idea that an anonymous government official, or 'Q,' has been secretly sharing messages and symbols that serve as evidence of a hidden plot to overthrow Trump,'' as The Washington Post's Tony Romm and Colby Itkowitz previously reported. Followers, most of them enthusiastic supporters of President Trump, believe many elite politicians and celebrities belong to an international cabal of pedophiles and will soon be arrested.
    • Welp, Oprah is the top trend in the United States because QAnon people completely made up that she was arrested as part of their fictitious baby eating ring.These people's delusions are extremely unwelcome at this moment. https://t.co/7W3ree2c6D
    • '-- Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) March 18, 2020Over the past few days, QAnon adherents have been sharing a viral Facebook post that claims coronavirus is ''the biggest covert U.S. intelligence operation that the world has ever seen.'' The author predicted the disease would provide cover for the arrests of prominent individuals including actor Tom Hanks, who was recently released from an Australian hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and, of course, Winfrey.
    • Trump retweets QAnon conspiracy theorist, via Larry the Cable Guy, to slam the TSA
    • The conspiracy theory gained steam on Sunday, when one Facebook user posted photos of caution tape surrounding a Mediterranean villa, claiming it was Winfrey's home in Boca Raton, Fla., and that authorities were ''excavating the property and digging up the tunnels.'' (Winfrey owns many houses, but none of them are in Florida.) On YouTube, a man going by ''Tank'' gave a live dispatch from a random parking lot, claiming to have received word that ''Hollywood pedophiles'' were being arrested and Winfrey's house was suspected to be ''some kind of child trafficking location.''
    • Trump tweets a meme of himself fiddling, drawing a comparison to Roman emperor Nero
    • Another user posted a video of armed police officers kicking in the door of an ordinary-looking bungalow, claiming it was leaked body camera footage from the ''raid'' on Winfrey's home.
    • i thought i was ready for quarantine twitter but then oprah started trending at 1130 on a tuesday bc a qanon facebook post claiming she was arrested for sex trafficking was picked up by normies and then i realized i was not ready for quarantine twitter
    • '-- Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) March 18, 2020Under ordinary circumstances, the easily debunked story might not have spread beyond the usual fringe online communities. But with most of the country under self-imposed quarantine and eager for a distraction on Wednesday night, the conspiracy theory reached a captive audience. By early Thursday morning, ''#opraharrested'' was trending alongside ''OPRAHDIDWHAT.''
    • We live in such bizarre times that Oprah just had to post a tweet at two in the morning to prove she hasn't been arrested. https://t.co/Gn5P3eEDba
    • '-- Palmer Report (@PalmerReport) March 18, 2020Finally, Winfrey stepped in to dispel the rumor, prompting HuffPost and New York Magazine reporter Yashar Ali to tweet, ''I can't believe Oprah had to even acknowledge the existence of a QAnon hoax''
    • The director Ava DuVernay, a friend and occasional collaborator of Winfrey's, wrote: ''Trolls + bots began this disgusting rumor. Mean-spirited minds kept it going. #Oprah has worked for decades on behalf of others. Given hundreds of millions to individuals + causes in need. Shared her own abuse as a child to help folks heal. Shame on all who participated in this.''
    • At a time when many tech platforms are struggling to fight the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus, some observed that seeing people spread a baseless hoax didn't exactly inspire confidence.
    • ''Folks believing that Oprah story just made the necessity of relying on each other for survival feel a lot more daunting,'' tweeted the writer Jamilah Lemieux.
  • Val Demings - Wikipedia
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    • Tue, 12 May 2020 23:29
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    • Florida politician
    • Valdez Venita Demings (n(C)e Butler; born March 12, 1957) is an American politician and retired law enforcement officer who serves as the United States Representative from Florida's 10th congressional district , serving since 2017. She served as Chief of the Orlando Police Department, the first woman to hold the position. She was the Democratic nominee in both 2012 and 2016 to represent Florida's 10th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, the latter of which Demings won.[3] On January 15, 2020, Speaker Nancy Pelosi selected Demings to serve as an impeachment manager in the Senate trial of President Donald J. Trump.[4]
    • Early life [ edit ] Valdez Venita Butler was born on March 12, 1957,[5] one of seven children born to a poor family; her father worked in orange groves, while her mother was a housekeeper. They lived in Mandarin, a neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida. She attended segregated schools in the 1960s, graduating from Wolfson High School in the 1970s.[6]
    • Her desire for a career in law enforcement came when Demings served in the "school patrol" at Dupont Junior High School. She attended Florida State University, graduating with a degree in criminology in 1979.[6] She continued her education at Webster University Orlando, earning a master's degree in public administration in 1996.[7]
    • Early career [ edit ] After graduating from college, Demings worked as a social worker in Jacksonville for 18 months.[6][8] In 1983, she applied for a job with the Orlando Police Department (OPD), and she began with the department on patrol on Orlando's west side.[6]
    • Demings was appointed as chief of the OPD in December 2007, becoming the first woman to lead the department.[9] As chief, she was credited with reducing violent crime in Orlando. She retired from the position effective June 1, 2011, after serving with the OPD for 27 years.[10]
    • Political career [ edit ] Demings was the Democratic Party nominee for the United States House of Representatives in Florida's 10th congressional district in the 2012 elections.[11] She faced freshman Republican Daniel Webster in a district that had been made slightly more Republican than its predecessor. Demings narrowly lost, taking 48 percent of the vote to Webster's 51 percent.[12]
    • Democrats attempted to recruit Demings to run against Webster again in 2014.[13] After considering her options, she decided to run for Mayor of Orange County, Florida, against Teresa Jacobs, instead.[14] Demings dropped out of the mayoral race on May 20, 2014.[15]
    • Demings ran again for the 10th district seat after a court-ordered redistricting made the 10th significantly more Democratic ahead of the 2016 elections.[16] She won the Democratic Party nomination on August 30,[17] and won the general election with 65% of the vote.[18] She is only the third Democrat ever to win this Orlando-based district since its creation in 1973 (it was numbered as the 5th from 1973 to 1993, the 8th from 1993 to 2013, and has been the 10th since 2013).
    • In her 2018 reelection campaign, Demings was unopposed for a second term.[19]
    • U.S. House of Representatives [ edit ] Tenure [ edit ] Demings was sworn in on January 3, 2017. She is a member of the New Democrat Coalition[20] and the Congressional Black Caucus.[21]
    • On December 18, 2019, Demings voted for both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.[22]Demings was selected as one of seven impeachment managers who presented the impeachment case against Trump during his trial before the United States Senate.[23]
    • Committee assignments [ edit ] Committee on Homeland SecuritySubcommittee on Border and Maritime SecurityCommittee on the JudiciarySubcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations (Vice Chair)Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust LawPermanent Select Committee on IntelligenceSubcommittee on Defense Intelligence and Warfighter SupportSubcommittee on Intelligence Modernization and ReadinessCaucus memberships [ edit ] New Democrat Coalition[24]Political positions [ edit ] This section
    • needs expansion.
    • You can help by adding to it. ( September 2018 )Gun policy [ edit ] Demings has stated that she seeks to keep firearms out of the hands of "people who seek to do harm," saying that the gun control legislation that she supports "isn't about taking guns away from responsible, law-abiding people."[25] She supports the Gun Violence Restraining Order Act of 2017, which would provide a lawful method of temporarily confiscating firearms from people deemed to be a threat to themselves or others. Of the Act, Demings said, "We must do what we can to make sure law enforcement has the tools it needs to more effectively perform the ever more challenging job of keeping us a safe nation. The Gun Violence Restraining Order Act is a major step to doing just that."[26] In the wake of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018, Demings announced her opposition to proposals to arm teachers, saying such efforts were "ridiculous"[27] and "only shift the responsibility from lawmakers to others. It shifts the pain, the hurt, and the guilt to school staff who will find themselves out skilled and outgunned in active shooter situations."[26]
    • Demings has an "F" rating from the NRA, which they award to those they deem a "true enemy of gun owners' rights".[28] She has accused the NRA of "hijacking" conversations after mass shootings to make them about the Second Amendment.[29]
    • Personal life [ edit ] Her husband, Jerry Demings, is the former Orange County Sheriff and current mayor of Orange County, Florida.[10] He served as the Chief of the OPD, the first African American to do so, from 1999 to 2002.[6][8] The two met while on patrol in the OPD; they married in 1988 and have three children.[6]
    • See also [ edit ] List of African-American United States RepresentativesWomen in the United States House of RepresentativesReferences [ edit ] ^ https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2007-11-28-police28-story.html ^ https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2011-05-03-os-orlando-police-chief-retires-20110503-story.html ^ "Florida U.S. House 10th District Results: Val Demings Wins". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016 . Retrieved November 8, 2016 . ^ DeBonis, Mike (January 15, 2020). "Schiff, Nadler lead group of House managers to prosecute Trump in Senate impeachment trial". Washington Post. WP Company LLC. Archived from the original on January 16, 2020 . Retrieved January 16, 2020 . ^ "Guide to the New Congress" (PDF) . Roll Call. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 24, 2018 . Retrieved January 3, 2017 . ^ a b c d e f "Val Demings takes over as Orlando's police chief Monday". Articles.orlandosentinel.com. December 16, 2007. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014 . Retrieved October 4, 2012 . ^ "Valerie Demings". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress . Retrieved January 21, 2020 . ^ a b "Married cops to head next-door agencies '' US news '' Life | NBC News". NBC News. January 25, 2009. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014 . Retrieved October 4, 2012 . ^ "Val Demings' retirement opinion: Orlando Police Chief Val Demings is retiring". Orlando Sentinel. May 5, 2011. Archived from the original on April 19, 2013 . Retrieved October 4, 2012 . ^ a b Schlueb, Mark (May 3, 2011). "Orlando Police Chief Val Demings retiring: Orlando Police Chief Val Demings is retiring". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on November 11, 2013 . Retrieved October 4, 2012 . ^ Green, Merissa (October 1, 2012). "Rep. Daniel Webster Challenged By Val Demings, Ex-Chief of Police". The Ledger. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012 . Retrieved October 3, 2012 . ^ Schlueb, Mark (November 6, 2012). "Dan Webster beats Val Demings, wins second term". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014 . Retrieved November 7, 2012 . ^ Damron, David (October 7, 2013). "Demings still undecided on next political move". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014 . Retrieved January 7, 2014 . ^ Powers, Scott (January 7, 2014). "Val Demings takes on Teresa Jacobs for Orange County Mayor". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 7, 2014 . Retrieved January 7, 2014 . ^ "Val Demings drops out of Orange County mayoral race". mynews13.com. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015 . Retrieved August 18, 2015 . ^ Powers, Scott (August 17, 2015). "Val Demings to run for Congress". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015 . Retrieved August 18, 2015 . ^ "Val Demings wins Democratic primary for US House District 10: Former Orlando police chief to face off against Thuy Lowe in November". clickorlando.com. August 30, 2016. Archived from the original on September 1, 2016 . Retrieved September 1, 2016 . ^ Comas, Martin E. (November 8, 2016). "Political newcomer Murphy pulls stunner, unseats Mica; Demings defeats Lowe". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on November 10, 2016 . Retrieved November 9, 2016 . ^ "House elections 2018: Uncontested races - Washington Post". Archived from the original on October 21, 2018 . Retrieved October 20, 2018 . ^ "Caucus Members". Congressional New Democrat Coalition. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018 . Retrieved January 31, 2019 . ^ "Membership". Congressional Black Caucus. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019 . Retrieved March 7, 2018 . ^ https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-impeachment-vote-results-house-2019-12 ^ Wilkie, Christina (January 15, 2020). "Pelosi taps Schiff, Nadler and 5 others as Trump impeachment managers". CNBC. Archived from the original on January 15, 2020 . Retrieved January 15, 2020 . ^ "Members". New Democrat Coalition. Archived from the original on February 8, 2018 . Retrieved February 5, 2018 . ^ Demings, Val (June 12, 2017). "A year after Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, we're going backward on guns". USA Today. McLean, Virginia. Archived from the original on March 6, 2018 . Retrieved March 5, 2018 . ^ a b Powers, Scott (February 16, 2018). "Val Demings pushes bill to seek gun restraining orders on people deemed dangerous". Florida Politics. Peter Schorsch. Archived from the original on March 6, 2018 . Retrieved March 5, 2018 . ^ Bennett, John T. (February 21, 2018). "Shooting Survivors, Victims' Families Tell Trump Emotional Stories". Roll Call. CQ Roll Call. Archived from the original on March 6, 2018 . Retrieved March 5, 2018 . ^ Berlow, Alan (May 1, 2013). "Gun lobby's money and power still holds sway over Congress". The Center for Public Integrity. The Center for Public Integrity. Archived from the original on March 6, 2018 . Retrieved March 5, 2018 . ^ Yanes, Nadeen (February 16, 2018). "What have Florida's politicians done to change gun laws?". News 6. Orlando, Florida. Archived from the original on March 6, 2018 . Retrieved March 5, 2018 . External links [ edit ] Congresswoman Val Demings official U.S. House websiteVal Demings for Congress official campaign websiteVal Demings at CurlieBiography at the Biographical Directory of the United States CongressProfile at Vote SmartFinancial information (federal office) at the Federal Election CommissionLegislation sponsored at the Library of CongressAppearances on C-SPANProfile at The Wall Street JournalVal Demings Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
  • Kari Wuhrer - Wikipedia
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    • American actress
    • Kari Wuhrer
    • Wuhrer at the 2014 Chiller Theatre Expo
    • BornKari Samantha Wuhrer
    • ( 1967-04-28 ) April 28, 1967 (age 53) Other namesKari W¼hrerKari W¼hrer SalinKari SalinKari Salin-W¼hrerOccupationActress, singerYears active1986''2018 Spouse(s) Daniel Salin (m. 1995' ''' 1999)
    • James Scura (m. 2003)
    • Kari Samantha Wuhrer (born April 28, 1967)[1] is an American actress and singer. Wuhrer began her career as a teenager, and is best known for her time as a cast member on MTV's Remote Control, as well as her roles as Maggie Beckett in the television series Sliders and as Sheriff Samantha Parker in the horror comedy film Eight Legged Freaks.
    • Early life [ edit ] Wuhrer was born in Brookfield, Connecticut, the daughter of Karin (n(C)e Noble), a payroll accountant, and German American Andrew Wuhrer, a police officer and car salesman. She has three siblings. As a teenager, she sang in nightclubs, sneaking out of the family home to perform. She studied acting from the age of 13 at the Wooster School, then studied drama at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Marymount Manhattan College, Columbia University, and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art with famed teacher Uta Hagen.
    • Career [ edit ] Wuhrer's first television break was MTV's Remote Control (1987).[2] She was a regular cast member of the television series Swamp Thing from 1991 to 1992. She also worked as a VJ on MTV during the same period. In 1993, she was a regular in the TV series Class of '96, where she played college student Robin Farr. From 1994 to 1995, she starred as Ariel Hunter in the long-running prime-time soap opera Beverly Hills, 90210.
    • During this period she appeared in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990) and starred in Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time (1991). In 1995 she also had a supporting role in the John Singleton film Higher Learning, followed by Thinner (1996), Anaconda (1997), and Kissing a Fool (1998).
    • Wuhrer returned to television in 1997 on the series Sliders[2] as Maggie Beckett, joining the cast as a regular and staying until the series ended in 2000. Wuhrer also guested in the TV series Leverage.
    • Wuhrer signed a record deal with Rick Rubin and her only album, Shiny, was released in 1999 by Del-Fi Records. In addition to her singing, she also wrote most of the songs on the album and played both the guitar and the flute on several tracks.
    • Later mainstream film roles include Berserker (2001) and Eight Legged Freaks (2002).[2]
    • Wuhrer is also known by gamers for her role as Agent Tanya in cutscenes of Westwood Studios' RTS video game Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and its subsequent expansion pack, Yuri's Revenge.
    • Wuhrer was later voted #76 on the FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 2000, #73 in the FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World of 2001 and #36 in Maxim magazine's 50 Sexiest Women Countdown of 1999. She posed semi-nude in Playboy magazine in August 2000 as their Babe of the Month and earlier considered multiple offers to appear fully nude throughout 1998.[3][4] She was also #64 on Celebrity Skin's 100 Sexiest Stars of All Time and #4 in the Celebrity Nudity Database's Most Popular Actresses of 1999.[5]
    • Her breast implants encapsulated during the filming of Spider's Web, so she had them removed in 2002.[6]
    • From February 3, 2005 through November 2005, Wuhrer joined the cast of the daytime soap opera General Hospital as FBI Agent Reese Marshall, the former love interest of mobster Sonny Corinthos and former best friend/rival of Carly Corinthos. Wuhrer's character died after suffering injuries in a train wreck. In January 2006, Wuhrer announced that she was suing General Hospital, claiming that she was fired because of her pregnancy.[7]
    • Filmography [ edit ] Film [ edit ] Television [ edit ] WebYearTitleRoleNotes2015VixenPattyGuest appearance (2 episodes)Video games [ edit ] Awards [ edit ] YearWorkAwardCategoryResult2001Do It for Uncle MannyNew York International Independent Film and Video FestivalBest ActressWonReferences [ edit ] ^ "Kari Samantha Wuhrer - Biography". Archived from the original on June 12, 2010 . Retrieved December 8, 2016 . CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link) ^ a b c Olsen, Mark (July 18, 2002). "Wuhrer has dreams--but no illusions". Los Angeles Times. ^ "Kari Wuhrer: Oh, Thank Heaven..." Ink 19 (Interview). Interviewed by Frank Mullen. July 30, 1999. ^ "Kari Wuhrer Chat at Lycos" (Interview). Interviewed by various participants. Earth62.net. July 22, 1998. ^ "The Kari Wuhrer Picture Pages". SuperiorPics. ^ "A Hollywood Actress's Intimate Diary: Why I Took Out My Breast Implants". Glamour Magazine. September 2002. Archived from the original on June 12, 2010 . Retrieved December 3, 2007 . ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (January 13, 2006). "Soap Actress Sues Show Over Pregnancy". people.com . Retrieved November 18, 2008 . ^ "EXCLUSIVE TRAILER DEBUT: Joker Rules in "Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem " ". Comic Book Resources. June 2, 2015. External links [ edit ]
  • Nina Turner - About
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    • Offering a powerful narrative of overcoming adversity, Nina Turner is a captivating orator who puts political and social trends into an unparalleled perspective... ''All you need in this life to succeed are the Wishbone, Jawbone and Backbone''. -Grandma
    • Hailed as the Shirley Chisholm of our times, Nina Turner is a motivational speaker, cable news commentator and defining political icon. She is a national co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, a former state senator from Ohio and former professor of African American history. Turner is also a founding member of the Bernie Sanders Institute, an entity dedicated to transforming American democracy through research, education and outreach. Prior to joining the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign, Turner led the grassroots organization, Our Revolution, an entity that Sanders founded to revitalize American democracy and empower progressive leaders. Prior to her stint at the helm of Our Revolution, she was a national surrogate for Sanders (I-VT) during the 2016 Democratic presidential primary. Notably, she was also the Democratic nominee for the 2014 Ohio Secretary of State race. While serving in the Ohio Senate, Turner sought to find common ground with Republicans and Independents and to find paths for reconciliation between long-dueling interests. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich invited her to serve on Ohio's Taskforce on Community-Police Relations, an initiative to address tensions and forge stronger relationships between the community and law enforcement. While having significant political experience as the one-time president of Our Revolution, former Democratic Party co-chair, former state senator and city councilwoman, Turner's true gift is oratory. She has the capacity to put political and social trends in perspective, command the attention of people from all walks and cause audiences to rise above the differences spawned by partisan politics. While she may be a political leader by profession, she is a spiritual teacher by calling. Turner travels the country championing progressive values and channeling the energy of civil rights and abolitionist leaders. Her goal is to raise the political consciousness of the nation, inspire Americans to see one another's humanity and to pursue justice, at all times and for all people. Having visited each of the 50 states, Turner is a sought-after public speaker who has spoken before crowds in the tens of thousands. One publication, Nation of Change, summarized her public speaking skills this way, ''Although Sanders has surrounded himself with really exceptional people, including these other campaign co-chairs, Nina Turner, who is perhaps one of the greatest orators in the English language today, is able to make the senator's case by drawing on her own experiences as an African American woman and is probably one of the main reasons why the candidate has such strong numbers with younger African American voters.'' When she is not traveling the country firing up audiences, she hosts the ''We the People'' podcast, where she has interviewed cultural icons such as Ice Cube and Michael Render, pka Killer Mike, and advanced humanitarian values. Her show touches on everything from perseverance to resistance. Her work is not without notice. In 2011, The Nation Magazine named her ''Most Valuable State Senator,'' and in 2014, The Root listed her as one of the top 100 most influential African Americans in the U.S. In 2015, Cleveland's Inside Business Magazine recognized her as one of the top 25 most powerful people in Northeast Ohio. Significantly, she was among a select group of leaders featured on Politico Playbook's Power List as ''18 to watch in 2018.'' Turner was also cast on the season premiere of the cable network, CW's ''Black Lightening'' television show. She played herself in the episode. As a political commentator, Turner has appeared on numerous national television and radio shows, such as ''Meet The Press,'' ''HBO's RealTime with Bill Maher,'' Comedy Central's ''The President's Show,'' ''Democracy Now,'' the ''Rickey Smiley Morning Show,'' ''The Breakfast Club,'' ''The Bill Press Show'' and the ''Thom Hartmann Radio Show.'' Turner has also been featured in leading print and online publications such as Blavity, Politico, Essence Magazine, Vanity Fair, The Hill, The Afro American and more.
  • Nina Turner - Wikipedia
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    • American politician
    • Nina Hudson Turner (born December 7, 1967) is an American politician and professor from Ohio. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a Cleveland City Councillor from 2006 to 2008 and an Ohio State Senator from 2008 until 2014.
    • She was the Democratic candidate for Ohio Secretary of State in 2014 but lost in the general election, garnering 35.5 percent of the vote. She was later a surrogate for Bernie Sanders in his 2016 presidential campaign. In 2016, she was also offered the role of vice presidential running mate by Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein but declined. In 2017, Turner became president of the Sanders-affiliated group Our Revolution. On February 21, 2019, Turner was named a national co-chair of Sanders's 2020 campaign.
    • Early life and education [ edit ] Turner is a native of Cleveland, Ohio. She was born Nina Hudson to teen parents, the first of seven children.[2] Her father and mother had split up by the time she was five. At 14, she began working part-time jobs, giving "every dime" she earned to her mother. She graduated from Cleveland's John F. Kennedy High School in 1986.
    • She did not continue her education immediately, instead taking a variety of jobs, including working at a fast food outlet and a Payless shoe store. While at Payless, she met Jeffery Turner, whom she later married. Subsequently, she returned to school to earn an Associate in Arts degree from Cuyahoga Community College, where she is now a tenured assistant professor of history.[3] Her mother, who had been struggling with high blood pressure all her life, died in 1992 at the age of 42.[2] Turner completed her degree, followed by a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and then a Master of Arts degree in 1997 from Cleveland State University.[4]
    • Ohio career [ edit ] Legislative aide [ edit ] She began her professional career as a legislative aide in 2001 to then-state Senator Rhine McLin.[5] Turner returned to her hometown to serve in the administration of Mayor Michael White where she was quickly promoted to Executive Assistant of Legislative Affairs. She later lobbied on behalf of Cleveland's schoolchildren at the state and federal levels as the Director of Government Affairs for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.[6]
    • Cleveland City Council (2006''2008) [ edit ] Turner made an unsuccessful run for Cleveland City Council in 2001, but was defeated by the incumbent, Joe Jones. In November 2004, Jones resigned his City Council seat. His wife, Tonya Jones, was the top vote-getter in a September nine-way, non-partisan primary race to select a candidate to fill Jones' seat. In the November 2005 election, Turner defeated Tonya Jones to become the Council Member for Ward One, the first African American woman in the seat.[5]
    • Turner served on Cleveland City Council from 2006 to 2008.[7] In March 2006, she traveled to Oxford, England to participate in the invitation-only Oxford Round Table (not affiliated with the University of Oxford), where scholars from around the world gathered to discuss issues of diversity.[6]
    • Ohio State Senate (2008''2014) [ edit ] In September 2008, Senator Lance Mason resigned his 25th District seat in the Ohio Senate to accept an appointment to the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. Turner was unanimously selected by the Ohio Senate Democratic caucus to serve the remainder of Mason's four-year Senate term. She resigned her City Council seat to accept the appointment on September 15, 2008. In the 128th General Assembly, Turner served as the Ranking Minority member on the Senate Highways & Transportation and Judiciary Criminal Justice Committees.
    • Turner won a full term in 2010, running unopposed in the general election. She was elected as Minority Whip halfway through the 129th General Assembly. She served as Minority Whip in the following General Assembly. By then her district consisted of the eastern side of Cuyahoga County as well as half of Lake County (including the Village of Fairport Harbor, the Village of Grand River, the City of Painesville and parts of Painesville Township; but excluding the City of Kirtland, the Village of Kirtland Hills, the Village of Waite Hill, the City of Willoughby Hills and most of the City of Mentor).
    • In 2019, she said of the time:
    • "I remember very clearly that my colleagues were always referred to as Senator. Senator this, and Senator that. We could be in the same room ... and I would be Nina. And for me, it is important that my first name is Senator, my last name is Turner, because you earned that title. Sometimes women are not given the kind of respect that they have earned, and that they deserve."[8]
    • Men's health bill [ edit ] As a political statement against legislation attempting to restrict women's access to contraception and abortion,[9] in March 2012, Turner introduced a bill to regulate men's reproductive health. Under her proposed S.B. 307, before getting a prescription for erectile dysfunction drugs, a man would have to get a notarized affidavit signed by a recent sexual partner affirming his impotency, consult with a sex therapist and receive a cardiac stress test. She said the proposed statute would be parallel to recent legislation written by male legislators restricting women's reproductive health and that she was equally concerned about men's reproductive health.
    • "Even the FDA recommends that doctors make sure that assessments are taken that target the nature of the symptoms, whether it's physical or psychological," Turner said. "I certainly want to stand up for men's health and take this seriously and legislate it the same way mostly men say they want to legislate a woman's womb."[10] The proposed legislation was not meant to be passed, but as a way of bringing attention to similar bills targeted towards women.[9]
    • Rape custody law [ edit ] In January 2014, Turner led unsuccessful efforts to change Ohio's rape custody law. It permits visitation and custody by men who father children via rape or sexual assault against a woman or girl. Turner wanted to protect rape victims/survivors and children conceived as a result of rape by preventing parental custody rights from being provided to rapists who fathered their children. She said it may be difficult for people to contemplate that a person would desire parental rights for a child conceived due to rape, though it occurs.[11] She and fellow Democrat Charleta Tavares introduced SB-171. It would allow rape victims to file court claims terminating their attacker's parental rights and permit a mother to place her child up for adoption without being required to seek her attacker's approval. The bill was stalled in the senate.[12]
    • 2014 election for Secretary of State [ edit ] On July 1, 2013, Turner declared her candidacy for Ohio Secretary of State, challenging Republican Jon Husted.[13] On September 18, 2014, Bill Clinton officially supported Turner's candidacy.[14] Turner was defeated 60%''35% by Husted.[15]
    • Professor of history [ edit ] Since 1998, Nina Turner has been a member of the faculty at her alma mater Cuyahoga Community College.[16] She is currently a tenured assistant professor of history there, where she teaches African-American history, African-American women's history, American history and women's studies.[3]
    • Electoral history [ edit ] Ohio Senate 25th district 2010 electionYearDemocratVotesPctRepublicanVotesPct2010Nina Turner73,694100.00%UnopposedOhio Secretary of State 2014 electionYearDemocratVotesPctRepublicanVotesPctLibertarianVotesPct2014Nina Turner1,074,47535.5%Jon Husted1,811,02059.8%Kevin Knedler141,2924.7%Career on the national stage [ edit ] 2016 presidential election [ edit ] In the 2016 presidential election, Turner initially supported Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination but switched her support to Bernie Sanders.[17][18] After Clinton won the nomination, Turner was invited by Jill Stein to become the Green Party's nominee for Vice President, but she declined saying, "I believe that the Democratic Party is worth fighting for."[19]
    • Our Revolution [ edit ] In 2017, Turner became the president and public face of Our Revolution, a progressive political action organization spun out of Senator Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign. In December of that year she served as a member of the DNC Unity Reform Commission in Washington D.C. to examine whether the caucus process needed to be reformed in the wake of the 2016 election.[20]
    • According to a May 2018 review by Politico Our Revolution had become "flailing" and "in disarray" a year into her leadership.[21] By May 2018, the organization's monthly fundraising totals were one-third of what they had been May 2017. Again, according to Politico, the group operated primarily as a vehicle for Sanders and had "shown no ability to tip a major Democratic election in its favor'--despite possessing Sanders' email list, the envy of the Democratic Party'--and can claim no major wins in 2018 as its own." There was infighting in the group, as board members and Sanders' 2016 presidential delegates questioned Turner's actions and motives. Figures in the organization queried whether Turner was using the organization for a presidential run of her own. They questioned whether she was settling scores with the Democratic National Committee from 2016 and criticized her hiring associates to senior positions within the organization. One of Turner's hires to a senior position was Tezlyn Figaro, who frequently appeared on Fox News to praise Trump and has made anti-immigration comments. Our Revolution also endorsed Dennis Kucinich in the race for the Democratic nomination for the 2018 Ohio governorship; questions were raised about Turner's close relation to Kucinich's running mate.[21]
    • Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign [ edit ] On February 21, 2019, Turner was named a national co-chair of the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign.[22] She told the Cleveland Plain Dealer in July 2019:
    • ''In many ways I see this as a ministry," says Turner. I am on a mission to help make this world a better place. I couldn't think of anything better to be doing right now than to help the man who has the heart soul agreement to bring about a revolution in this country. The type of revolution that will not leave working class blacks, whites, Latinx, Asian and indigenous people behind. There are many things I could be doing right now, but I'm on a mission. This is personal."[23]
    • She has appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews,[24] Meet the Press,[25] Politics Nation and other programs in support of the candidate.[26] She also appeared to back Sanders on CNN's State of the Union.[27]
    • In October 2019, she appeared with other female campaign managers at the Citizen by CNN event in New York City.[8]
    • Television appearances [ edit ] Turner has worked for CNN as a contributor. In June 2017, she began a regular segment on The Real News Network called The Nina Turner Show.[28]
    • Turner has made multiple appearances on C-SPAN, the first being a 2012 meeting as a State Senator.
    • In 2018, Turner portrayed a fictitious version of herself in the pilot episode of the television series Black Lightning, praising actor Cress Williams' character Jefferson Pierce.[29]
    • Personal life [ edit ] Turner is married to Jeffery Turner, Sr., a lieutenant in the Ohio National Guard.[5] They have a son, Jeffery Turner, Jr, and the men reside in Cleveland while Turner works out of Washington, D.C.[23] Turner is a Christian and has publicly stated how her faith forms a basis for her political convictions.[30]
    • References [ edit ] ^ https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=339038 ^ a b Gomez, Henry J. (November 22, 2009). "Nina Turner's future bright due to gutsy stand on Issue 6". The Plain Dealer. Archived from the original on August 9, 2011 . Retrieved April 1, 2011 '' via Cleveland.com. ^ a b "Former state senator Nina Turner reflects on her education journey". Cuyahoga Community College. March 30, 2017. Archived from the original on August 5, 2019 . Retrieved March 7, 2020 . ^ "Nina Turner." Who's Who Among African Americans. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2017. Retrieved via Biography in Context database, June 30, 2017. ^ a b c Troy, Tom (July 1, 2013). "Politics: State Sen. Nina Turner from Cleveland to run for Ohio secretary of state Archived November 10, 2017, at the Wayback Machine". The Blade (Toledo). toledoblade.com. Retrieved 2017-06-30. ^ a b Senate, Ohio (2009). "Ladies Gallery: Nina Turner". Ohio Statehouse. ^ "Voting rights at center of hot race". mydaytondailynews. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018 . Retrieved September 18, 2018 . ^ a b Bridget Nolan; Dana Bash. "Meet 5 badass women of the leading Democratic presidential campaigns". CNN. ^ a b Tomassoni, Teresa (March 15, 2012). "In Protest, Democrats Zero In On Men's Reproductive Health". NPR . Retrieved January 17, 2018 . ^ Borchardt, Jackie (March 12, 2012). "Bill introduced to regulate men's reproductive health; Part of a trend, she likens the bill to men legislating 'a woman's womb. ' ". Dayton Daily News . Retrieved October 13, 2013 . ^ Bourgeois, Caleigh (January 15, 2014). "Ohio senator trying to change rape custody law". woub.org. Archived from the original on February 28, 2014 . Retrieved November 14, 2019 . ^ "Do rapists have parental rights?". bdfamilylaw.com . Retrieved November 14, 2019 . ^ Gomez, Henry J. (July 1, 2013). "Nina Turner announces bid for Ohio secretary of state; Democrat hopes to unseat Jon Husted". Cleveland Plain Dealer. Archived from the original on December 5, 2013 . Retrieved October 13, 2013 . ^ Sanner, Ann. "Bill Clinton backs Nina Turner for Secretary of State". Associated Press . Retrieved September 19, 2014 . ^ Jeremy, Pelzer (November 5, 2014). "Jon Husted wins Ohio Secretary of State race". Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015 . Retrieved November 13, 2015 . ^ "Nina Turner Resume" (PDF) . Sanders Institute. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2020 . Retrieved March 7, 2020 . ^ Kosich, John (February 1, 2016). "Former State Senator Nina Turner's growing role as campaign surrogate for Bernie Sanders". WEWS-TV. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016 . Retrieved February 18, 2016 . ^ "Ohio's Nina Turner jumps from Clinton to Sanders". Politico. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016 . Retrieved March 12, 2016 . ^ Denvir, Daniel (September 8, 2016). "Nina Turner: Reflections on the political revolution's past and future". Salon. Archived from the original on March 27, 2017 . Retrieved June 15, 2017 . ^ "DNC Unity Reform Commission, Day 2, Part 1". c-span.org. December 9, 2017. ^ a b "Bernie's army in disarray". Politico. Archived from the original on December 18, 2019. ^ Perticone, Joe (February 21, 2019). "Bernie Sanders announces new national co-chairs: Our Revolution President and former Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner, Rep. Ro Khanna, San Juan Puerto Rico Mayor Carmen Yul­n Cruz and Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen". @JoePerticone . Retrieved February 21, 2019 . ^ a b Eaton, Sabrina (July 5, 2019). "Cleveland's Nina Turner 'people raises' for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders". The Cleveland Plain Dealer. ^ "Nina Turner: Bernie Sanders 'running for the people ' ". MSNBC.com. ^ "Full Turner: Voters should pick Senator Sanders because he is 'consistent ' ". MSNBC.com. ^ "Nina Turner on Bernie Sanders' support among African Americans". MSNBC.com. ^ "Nina Turner: Racism in DNA of United States - CNN Video". ^ "Premiere of the Nina Turner Show with Bernie Sanders". The Real News. June 12, 2017 . Retrieved June 12, 2017 . ^ Drum, Nicole (January 17, 2018). " ' Black Lightning' Series Premiere Featured Real-Life Activists". comicbook.com. ^ O'Connor, Kevin (July 2, 2018). "Nina Turner Fuels the Bern in Vermont Visit". Bennington Banner . Retrieved January 31, 2020 . External links [ edit ] Official website Nina Turner on InstagramThe Ohio Senate: Senator Nina Turner (D) '' District 25Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Examining Tara Reade's Sexual Assault Allegation Against Joe Biden - The New York Times
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    • Tue, 12 May 2020 22:33
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    • Ms. Reade, a former Senate aide, has accused Mr. Biden of assaulting her in 1993 and says she told others about it. A Biden spokeswoman said the allegation is false, and former Senate office staff members do not recall such an incident.
    • Tara Reade worked as a staff assistant in Joseph R. Biden's Senate office in 1993, helping manage the office interns. Credit... Max Whittaker for The New York Times Published April 12, 2020Updated May 8, 2020
    • WASHINGTON '-- A former Senate aide who last year accused Joseph R. Biden Jr. of inappropriate touching has made an allegation of sexual assault against the former vice president, the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee this fall.
    • The former aide, Tara Reade, who briefly worked as a staff assistant in Mr. Biden's Senate office, told The New York Times that in 1993, Mr. Biden pinned her to a wall in a Senate building, reached under her clothing and penetrated her with his fingers. A friend said that Ms. Reade told her the details of the allegation at the time. Another friend and a brother of Ms. Reade's said she told them over the years about a traumatic sexual incident involving Mr. Biden.
    • A spokeswoman for Mr. Biden said the allegation was false. In interviews, several people who worked in the Senate office with Ms. Reade said they did not recall any talk of such an incident or similar behavior by Mr. Biden toward her or any women. Two office interns who worked directly with Ms. Reade said they were unaware of the allegation or any treatment that troubled her.
    • Last year, Ms. Reade and seven other women came forward to accuse Mr. Biden of kissing, hugging or touching them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable. Ms. Reade told The Times then that Mr. Biden had publicly stroked her neck, wrapped his fingers in her hair and touched her in ways that made her uncomfortable.
    • Soon after Ms. Reade made the new allegation, in a podcast interview released on March 25, The Times began reporting on her account and seeking corroboration through interviews, documents and other sources. The Times interviewed Ms. Reade on multiple days over hours, as well as those she told about Mr. Biden's behavior and other friends. The Times has also interviewed lawyers who spoke to Ms. Reade about her allegation; nearly two dozen people who worked with Mr. Biden during the early 1990s, including many who worked with Ms. Reade; and the other seven women who criticized Mr. Biden last year, to discuss their experiences with him.
    • No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any details of Ms. Reade's allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden.
    • On Thursday, Ms. Reade filed a report with the Washington, D.C., police, saying she was the victim of a sexual assault in 1993; the public incident report, provided to The Times by Ms. Reade and the police, does not mention Mr. Biden by name, but she said the complaint was about him. Ms. Reade said she filed the report to give herself an additional degree of safety from potential threats. Filing a false police report may be punishable by a fine and imprisonment.
    • Ms. Reade, who worked as a staff assistant helping manage the office interns, said she also filed a complaint with the Senate in 1993 about Mr. Biden; she said she did not have a copy of it, and such paperwork has not been located. The Biden campaign said it did not have a complaint. The Times reviewed an official copy of her employment history from the Senate that she provided showing she was hired in December 1992 and paid by Mr. Biden's office until August 1993.
    • The seven other women who had complained about Mr. Biden told the Times this month that they did not have any new information about their experiences to add, but several said they believed Ms. Reade's account.
    • Image Mr. Biden, then a United States senator from Delaware, during a Senate hearing in July 1993. Credit... John Duricka/Associated Press Last year, Mr. Biden, 77, acknowledged the women's complaints about his conduct, saying his intentions were benign and promising to be ''more mindful and respectful of people's personal space.''
    • In response to Ms. Reade's allegation, Kate Bedingfield, a deputy Biden campaign manager, said in a statement: ''Vice President Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women. He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard '-- and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen.''
    • Ms. Reade made her new allegation public as Mr. Biden was closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination after winning a string of primaries against his chief rival, Senator Bernie Sanders. Ms. Reade, who describes herself as a ''third-generation Democrat,'' said she originally favored Marianne Williamson and Senator Elizabeth Warren in the race but voted for Mr. Sanders in the California primary last month. She said her decision to come forward had nothing to do with politics or helping Mr. Sanders, and said neither his campaign nor the Trump campaign had encouraged her to make her allegation.
    • President Trump has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by more than a dozen women, who have described a pattern of behavior that went far beyond the accusations against Mr. Biden. The president also directed illegal payments, including $130,000 to a pornographic film actress, Stormy Daniels, before the 2016 election to silence women about alleged affairs with Mr. Trump, according to federal prosecutors.
    • Mr. Trump has even boasted about his mistreatment of women; in a 2005 recording, he described pushing himself on women and said he would ''grab them by the pussy,'' bragging that he could get away with ''anything'' because of his celebrity.
    • Even so, Mr. Trump has at times attacked opponents over their treatment of women. The president has not mentioned Ms. Reade's allegation, which has circulated on social media and in liberal and conservative news outlets.
    • Image Ms. Reade worked for Mr. Biden in the Senate from December 1992 until August 1993. Credit... via Tara Reade Ms. Reade, 56, told The Times that the assault happened in the spring of 1993. She said she had tracked down Mr. Biden to deliver an athletic bag when he pushed her against a cold wall, started kissing her neck and hair and propositioned her. He slid his hand up her cream-colored blouse, she said, and used his knee to part her bare legs before reaching under her skirt.
    • ''It happened at once. He's talking to me and his hands are everywhere and everything is happening very quickly,'' she recalled. ''He was kissing me and he said, very low, 'Do you want to go somewhere else?'''
    • Ms. Reade said she pulled away and Mr. Biden stopped.
    • ''He looked at me kind of almost puzzled or shocked,'' she said. ''He said, 'Come on, man, I heard you liked me.'''
    • At the time, Ms. Reade said she worried whether she had done something wrong to encourage his advances.
    • ''He pointed his finger at me and he just goes: 'You're nothing to me. Nothing,''' she said. ''Then, he took my shoulders and said, 'You're OK, you're fine.'''
    • Mr. Biden walked down the hallway, Ms. Reade said, and she cleaned up in a restroom, made her way home and, sobbing, called her mother, who encouraged her to immediately file a police report.
    • Instead, Ms. Reade said, she complained to Marianne Baker, Mr. Biden's executive assistant, as well as to two top aides, Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman, about harassment by Mr. Biden '-- not mentioning the alleged assault.
    • The staff declined to take action, Ms. Reade said, after which she filed a written complaint with a Senate personnel office. She said office staff took away most of her duties, including supervising the interns; assigned her a windowless office; and made the work environment uncomfortable for her.
    • She said Mr. Kaufman later told her she was not a good fit in the office, giving her a month to look for a job. Ms. Reade never secured another position in Washington.
    • In an interview, Mr. Kaufman, a longtime friend of Mr. Biden's who was his chief of staff at the time, said: ''I did not know her. She did not come to me. If she had, I would have remembered her.''
    • Mr. Toner, who worked for Mr. Biden for over three decades, said the allegation was out of character for Mr. Biden. Other senators and office staffs had reputations for harassing women at work and partying after hours, according to those who worked in the office at the time. Mr. Biden was known for racing to catch the train to get home to Wilmington, Del., every night.
    • ''It's just so preposterous that Senator Biden would be faced with these allegations,'' said Mr. Toner, who was deputy chief of staff when Ms. Reade worked in the office. ''I don't remember her. I don't remember this conversation. And I would remember this conversation.''
    • The Biden campaign issued a statement from Ms. Baker, Mr. Biden's executive assistant from 1982 to 2000.
    • ''I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct, period '-- not from Ms. Reade, not from anyone,'' she said. ''I have absolutely no knowledge or memory of Ms. Reade's accounting of events, which would have left a searing impression on me as a woman professional, and as a manager.''
    • Melissa Lefko, a former staff assistant for Mr. Biden from 1992 to 1993, said she did not remember Ms. Reade. But she recalled that Mr. Biden's office was a ''very supportive environment for women'' and said she had never experienced any kind of harassment there.
    • ''When you work on the Hill, everyone knows who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, and Biden was a good guy,'' she said.
    • Ms. Reade said that she could not remember the exact time, date or location of the assault but that it occurred in a ''semiprivate'' place in the Senate office complex.
    • A friend said that Ms. Reade told her about the alleged assault at the time, in 1993. A second friend recalled Ms. Reade telling her in 2008 that Mr. Biden had touched her inappropriately and that she'd had a traumatic experience while working in his office. Both friends agreed to speak to The Times on the condition of anonymity to protect the privacy of their families and their self-owned businesses.
    • Ms. Reade said she also told her brother, who has confirmed parts of her account publicly but who did not speak to The Times, and her mother, who has since died.
    • Differing recollectionsAt the time of the alleged assault, Ms. Reade said she was responsible for coordinating the interns in the office. Two former interns who worked with her said they never heard her describe any inappropriate conduct by Mr. Biden or saw her directly interact with him in any capacity but recalled that she abruptly stopped supervising them in April, before the end of their internship. Others who worked in the office at the time said they remembered Ms. Reade but not any inappropriate behavior.
    • Friends and former co-workers describe Ms. Reade as friendly, caring, compassionate and trustworthy, though perhaps a bit na¯ve. A single mother, she changed her name for protection after leaving an abusive marriage in the late 1990s and put herself through law school in Seattle. After leaving Mr. Biden's office, she eventually returned to the West Coast, where she worked for a state senator; as an advocate for domestic violence survivors, testifying as an expert witness in court; and for animal rescue organizations.
    • During her time in Mr. Biden's office, he was working to pass the Violence Against Women Act, which Mr. Biden has described as his ''proudest legislative accomplishment.'' In 2017, Ms. Reade retweeted praise for Mr. Biden and his work combating sexual assault. In more recent months, her feed has featured support for Mr. Sanders and criticism of Mr. Biden.
    • Image Mr. Biden and Senator Barbara Boxer of California discussed the Violence Against Women Act at the Capitol in February 1993. Credit... Barry Thumma/Associated Press Ms. Reade said she did not disclose the sexual assault allegation last year when she spoke out because she was scared. After her initial complaints were reported last year by a local California newspaper, Ms. Reade said she faced a wave of criticism and death threats, as well as accusations that she was a Russian agent because of Medium posts and tweets, several of which are now deleted, she had written praising President Vladimir Putin.
    • Ms. Reade said that she was not working for Russia and did not support Mr. Putin, and that her comments were pulled out of context from a novel she was writing at the time.
    • ''It was trying to smear me and distract from what happened, but it won't change the facts of what happened in 1993,'' she said.
    • As it has for thousands of people who have contacted the group, the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, which does not represent clients, gave her a list of lawyers with expertise in such cases. She said she contacted every single one but none took her case. Two lawyers confirmed speaking to Ms. Reade but declined to comment on the record about her or the allegation.
    • SKDKnickerbocker, the political consulting firm where Mr. Biden's chief strategist, Anita Dunn, works as a managing director, has a contract with the Time's Up legal defense fund. Ms. Dunn has never worked with the fund and her firm was not told of Ms. Reade's request, according to officials at the fund.
    • Ms. Reade also contacted at least one of the women who spoke out along with her last year about Mr. Biden's penchant for physical contact.
    • Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state assemblywoman who accused Mr. Biden of making her uncomfortable by kissing and touching her during a 2014 campaign event, exchanged a few emails last year with Ms. Reade but said Ms. Reade did not share her full story.
    • ''Biden is not just a hugger,'' Ms. Flores said. ''Biden very clearly was invading women's spaces without their consent in a way that made them feel uncomfortable. Does he potentially have the capacity to go beyond that? That's the answer everyone is trying to get at.''
    • Listen to 'The Daily': Examining the Allegation Against Joe Biden What we know about the police report filed by Tara Reade, who said the sexual assault complaint is about her former boss, now the prospective Democratic presidential candidate.transcript
    • transcript
    • Listen to 'The Daily': Examining the Allegation Against Joe BidenHosted by Michael Barbaro; produced by Rachel Quester and Luke Vander Ploeg; with help from Theo Balcomb; and edited by M.J. Davis Lin and Lisa ChowWhat we know about the police report filed by Tara Reade, who said the sexual assault complaint is about her former boss, now the prospective Democratic presidential candidate.michael barbaroFrom The New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is ''The Daily.''
    • Today: A former Senate aide to Joe Biden has accused him of assaulting her in 1993. My colleague Lisa Lerer examines the allegation.
    • It's Tuesday, April 14.
    • Lisa, when did you begin reporting this story?
    • lisa lererSo about a year ago, we were reporting on allegations from a number of women who came out and said that Joe Biden had touched them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable.
    • archived recordingTonight, Joe Biden is facing troubling accusations. Nevada Democrat Lucy Flores claims the former vice president inappropriately touched and kissed her head before a rally in 2014.
    • lisa lererMaybe it was a squeeze on the shoulder, maybe he smelled their hair '--
    • archived recording (lucy flores)'-- out of nowhere, I feel Joe Biden put his hands on my shoulders, get up very close to me from behind, lean in, smell my hair and then plant a slow kiss on the top of my head.
    • lisa lererBut this was all happening in public, at campaign rallies, at fund-raisers.
    • archived recording 1He put his hands around my head and pulled me in.
    • archived recording 2Former congressional aide Amy Lappos told CBS News tonight that Joe Biden reached for her face and rubbed noses with her during a fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut in 2009.
    • lisa lererAnd we in the newsroom and in the media, we're really grappling with how to think and talk about this behavior. This wasn't anything like what had normally come up in a lot of these discussions around #MeToo, like Harvey Weinstein or any of that.
    • archived recording (lucy flores)And for the record, I don't believe that it was a bad intention. I'm not in any way suggesting that I felt sexually assaulted or sexually harassed. I felt invaded. I felt that there was a violation of my personal space. There was no '--
    • lisa lererThe women talking about these allegations weren't quite sure what to call it. Some of them said quite vehemently that they didn't consider it sexual harassment. But they wanted the former vice president to be aware of his behavior and how it could make people feel. Others had a slightly different perspective. They thought it was something closer to sexual harassment. So this goes on for really a couple weeks. And in the end, Biden '-- he doesn't quite apologize.
    • archived recording (joe biden)Today, I want to talk about gestures of support and encouragement that I've made to women and some men, and it made them uncomfortable.
    • lisa lererBut he comes out and he makes an online video where he says that he has a very touchy feely kind of political style.
    • archived recording (joe biden)In my career, I've always tried to make a human connection. That's my responsibility, I think. I shake hands, I hug people, I grab men and women by the shoulders and say, you can do this.
    • lisa lererBut he recognizes that times have changed, and perhaps he needs to change with them and be more respectful of people's space.
    • archived recording (joe biden)You know, social norms have begun to change, they've shifted, and the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset. And I get it. I get it. I hear what they're saying. I understand it. And I'll be much more mindful. That's my responsibility. My responsibility. And I'll meet it.
    • lisa lererAnd then, I met Tara Reade.
    • And she had called me with sort of similar kind of story. Joe Biden had touched her, he'd put his hands in her hair, he touched her shoulders, all in public, in ways that really made her feel uncomfortable. But her story had a little bit of a different twist. So she, at the time, had been working in his Senate office. And this was about '-- I think December 1992 to August 1993. She was a low-level staffer, a staff assistant. And she said that the touching had gone beyond just hands in the hair and squeezes of the shoulder. That there had been harassment.
    • michael barbaroHm.
    • lisa lererShe says he had asked her to serve drinks at a cocktail party. He had commented on her looks in the office, in front of other people. And that she felt that he had cultivated a culture in his office that fostered and permitted this kind of sexual harassment.
    • michael barbaroAnd what did you do with Reade's story, with that reporting?
    • lisa lererWell, I talked to her. I talked to her friend, who corroborated a lot of what she was telling me. We did use her allegations to call a whole bunch of people who had worked in Joe Biden's office in the 1990s '-- particularly the early 1990s, which was the period that Tara Reade was working there '-- to see if they remembered any kind of harassment, what the environment of the office was at the time. But we didn't really come up with anything all that surprising or explosive. Nobody really confirmed her account at that time. So we actually didn't end up reporting them in the paper. We had already reported on a number of allegations from these women who said that they were uncomfortable with Joe Biden's touching. And we just sort of moved on. And the political world did too. Everyone moved on to the next battle. There was the Mueller report to contend with, and then a really competitive primary, presidential debates started. So this issue of the unwanted touching and Tara's story just never came back up.
    • michael barbaroMm hmm. And Lisa, do you think that has something to do with the fact that Biden confronted this, talked about it and said he was learning from it?
    • lisa lererOh, for sure. But he was really forced into confronting it. I mean, this was a period in March, in April, before Biden had formally announced his presidential bid, where he was going through the process of reconciling a lot of his record with the current mores of the Democratic Party. He was dealing with his criminal justice record, he was dealing with his positions on abortion and sort of moving to the left with the party. And so I think that quasi-apology video was part of that process. You have a Democratic Party that's acutely aware of issues of racial and gender bias, and Biden had to eventually reconcile those criticisms '-- whether he felt they were fair or not '-- with where the party was. But ultimately, he didn't pay much of a price for it. He announced his campaign a couple three or so weeks later. His opponents never made an issue of this and everything sort of moved on.
    • michael barbaroOK, so what happens next?
    • lisa lererWell, you have the primary race. So Biden, as we all know, nosedives. Then he comes back up, he becomes the front-runner. And around that time '--
    • archived recording (katie halper)Hello, and welcome to the Katie Halper Show.
    • lisa lererA woman goes on a podcast '--
    • archived recording (katie halper)Where would you like to start? Where does the story start for you?
    • archived recording (tara reade)Well, the story starts when I went to work for Joe Biden.
    • lisa lererAnd levels a really serious, serious accusation against Joe Biden, which is basically that he sexually assaulted her.
    • archived recording (tara reade)And my body '-- I was shaking everywhere, because it was cold all of a sudden, and I was '-- I don't know, I feel like I was shaking, just everywhere. And I was trying to grasp what had just happened, and what I should do.
    • lisa lererAnd that woman, who tells her story in great detail on this podcast, is Tara Reade.
    • michael barbaroSo what are you thinking at this point? Because you had already talked to this woman, and she had not mentioned this kind of accusation, right?
    • lisa lererWell, I must admit, I'm a little confused, because it didn't come up at all. And so the first thing I did was pull up my notes. And when I look over my notes and I read the story she had told me a year ago, there's some holes in that story she told me. Things I remember thinking that her reaction was maybe a bit extreme for what she said she was experiencing in the office at the time. That maybe make a little more sense if this other thing had in fact happened '-- this sexual assault. So I wondered, first of all, had she been truthful the first time around? Was she being truthful now? And also, whether I had asked the right questions. Did I miss something because I hadn't called back, because I got caught up with the dynamics of this primary?
    • michael barbaroSo at this point '-- after Tara Reade has gone on this podcast, she has made this claim, and you're trying to figure out why she didn't first tell you that same information '-- how are you now approaching this story, journalistically?
    • lisa lererSo I think we all quickly agreed that it wasn't a question of whether we would approach the story, but how. This was a woman who was making very serious allegations of sexual assault with her name attached, publicly, against the man who is more than likely to become the Democratic nominee for president. So we had to grapple with these claims. The question was, how? And I think the natural thing to do '-- really, the human thing to do '-- is to go into a story like this and say, do you believe or not believe the person who's making the accusation? But that's not the journalistic thing to do. We're not judges, we're not the jury, we're not the police department. I was really focused on what we could show to be true and what we could show to not be true. What we had corroboration on, and what we didn't have corroboration on. And what kind of facts we could give voters and the American public about this whole incident, that's already out in the world and being passed around quite actively on social media. People knew about it.
    • michael barbaroMm-hmm.
    • lisa lererBut they didn't know the details, and they didn't really know what was true or not.
    • michael barbaroAnd so where do you begin as you're trying to figure this all out?
    • lisa lererWell, so the main thing I needed to do was get Tara Reade back on the phone. So that's where I began.
    • michael barbaroWe'll be right back.
    • So Lisa, tell me about this, I guess, second round of communications that you have with Tara Reade, after she claims that Joe Biden has assaulted her.
    • lisa lererSo I call her, and we start talking every day. And the obvious first question I ask her is why she didn't tell me about these allegations when we talked a year ago. And she tells me that even though they weren't published in The New York Times, they were published in a local paper. And the feedback she got from that being out there, the kind of death threats and harassment online, made her reluctant to tell the rest of her story. So we talk through all that, and then eventually, I say to her that I need her to tell me the story that she told on that podcast in a way that we can use on the record. And I start recording her.
    • interposing voicesHello? Can you hear me? Yeah, I hear you. Yep, I got you.
    • michael barbaroAnd what does she say?
    • lisa lererSo where do you want to start?
    • tara readeOK. So let's start with the assault.
    • lisa lererSo the story that I'm about to tell you is all according to Tara Reade. So it's 1993, in the spring some time, and she's working as a staff assistant in Joe Biden's Senate office. And one day, she's at work, and her supervisor comes up to her and has this athletic bag '-- this gym bag '-- and asks her if she would find the senator and bring him his gym bag.
    • tara readeShe just said, take him his gym bag, hurry! And she was like, he'll meet you, he's down towards the Capitol.
    • lisa lererSo she heads down and finds him somewhere in the Capitol complex of offices.
    • tara readeAnd I ran into him, like I saw him, and I '-- he acknowledged me, he was talking to someone, they walked away. And then he said, come here, Tara. And then he smiled at me, greeted me.
    • lisa lererAnd she says, hello, Senator.
    • tara readeI called him ''Senator.'' I didn't call him ''Joe.'' And I handed him the bag with my right hand, I remember that.
    • lisa lererAnd the next thing she remembers, he's pinned her up against a wall, which she remembers as being very, very cold. And he's kissing her.
    • tara readeIt happened at once, and that's what's so hard about telling this story. Like he's talking to me, and his hands are everywhere, and everything's happening at once very quickly. This happened, like, in under two minutes.
    • lisa lererAnd according to Tara, he reaches his hand under her shirt '-- she remembers she was wearing a cream-colored blouse '-- grabs her left breast.
    • tara readeHe used his knee to part my knees, because my legs went together. And he went kind of down my skirt, and then as he's parting my legs with his knee, he like went up, and then just went under. And then, of course, yeah, he was able to do what he did, which was he took '-- it felt like one or two fingers, and inserted them in my vagina.
    • lisa lererAnd at that point, he's kissing her and he says to her, she says, do you want to go somewhere else? And he tried '-- she said '-- to kiss her on the mouth, but she moves her head.
    • tara readeAnd then he pulled back, because I wasn't responding to him, I wasn't kissing him back. I completely froze up, and he had kind of lifted me up, so I was like up on my tippy toes almost. And then he looked back and he looked at me '--
    • lisa lererAnd he looks at her, and he says, according to her '--
    • tara readeCome on, man. I heard you liked me. Then he smiled, but then when I looked at his eyes, he was angry. Like there '--
    • lisa lererAnd she said she remembers standing there, just kind of frozen, and she felt almost a little bad, like she had put him in a bad position. And she was wondering what she did to make him think that she would be interested in this. And according to Tara, he looked her and he said '--
    • tara readeHe pointed his finger at me and he just goes, you're '-- you're nothing to me. And then he looked at me, and he goes, nothing.
    • lisa lererYou're nothing to me. Nothing. And she thinks she must have looked a certain way or had a certain expression in her eye, because then he kind of took her by the shoulders and patted her shoulders, and said, you're OK, you're fine. And he kind of almost set her down, she said, and then he walked off and walked down the hall.
    • tara readeI know I went to the restroom, I know I did, to clean up. But I don't remember which restroom I went to in the Russell Building or there '-- I don't know. But I know I did. But my vivid memory next is sitting '-- I was trying to pull myself together in the back stairs at the Russell Building with those big windows. I remember just sitting on the stairs, and nobody was there. And just like my whole body was literally '-- I couldn't control my shaking. I remember just being so cold. So cold.
    • lisa lererAnd then she headed home. She doesn't remember how she got there. She doesn't remember whether she went back into the office and got her bag or talked to anybody. But she made it home to her apartment.
    • tara readeThe next thing I remember is being on the phone with my mom and crying and then arguing with her.
    • lisa lererAnd her mother tells her in fairly firm language that she needs to immediately file a police report.
    • tara readeYou know, she even swore at me. She was not being gentle and supportive, and I understand, because she wanted me to have evidence. And now I understand what she was trying to do, and I didn't then.
    • lisa lererBut Tara doesn't do that.
    • michael barbaroAnd does she say why she did not go to the police?
    • lisa lererWell, what she says is that she basically just wanted the whole thing to go away, is what she told me. That after it happened, she took a shower. She says she threw out all her clothes that she was wearing at the time.
    • tara readeI threw everything out. Even the shoes. Everything. Like, I just '-- that's how I felt about it.
    • lisa lererReally? What kind of '--
    • lisa lererShe tells me that she called in sick to work, that she was sobbing uncontrollably.
    • tara readeIt's like I just didn't want it to have happened. It just didn't happen.
    • michael barbaroAnd what does she say happens in the days and maybe even weeks after this alleged incident?
    • lisa lererSo she tells me eventually she does go back to work. And when she does, she says that she tells her immediate supervisor, who's Biden's personal secretary, as well as two top staffers in the office '-- the deputy chief of staff and the chief of staff '-- that she feels uncomfortable around Joe Biden. She never mentions the alleged assault, but she talks more about feeling uncomfortable with him touching her shoulders or tangling his hands in her hair. And in her telling, the staff don't really do anything about that. In fact, she feels that they kind of penalize her for bringing that forward. She says they strip her of one of her duties, which is supervising the interns. She says they put her in a windowless office, far from the rest of the staff. So at some point, she says that she goes to a Senate personnel office and files a formal complaint.
    • michael barbaroAnd what does she say was in this complaint?
    • lisa lererShe said that complaint really detailed the harassment and what she saw as retaliation in the office. But she believes that that forum eventually was returned to Biden's office, which would have been a flouting of what the official protocol was at that time. And once that complaint was returned to Biden's office, she says, she was given a month to find a new job, and basically eased out of her position. And so she started looking for another position on Capitol Hill, she says, and never ended up getting hired or finding anything.
    • michael barbaroSo Lisa, once Tara Reade has given you this account of an alleged attack, what do you do next?
    • lisa lererSo at this point, she's told me a lot of information. And some really detailed information too. So I start thinking about what can be corroborated, what we can show to be true and what we can show to be not true. And one thing that Tara mentions to me is that at the time, she had called a friend and told her the whole story. So I tracked down the friend.
    • michael barbaroMm-hmm.
    • lisa lererAnd in large part, she corroborates the story that Tara had told me. Tara tells me she also told her mother. Her mother is deceased, so she can't be called. And she told a version of her story to her brother, though not all the details. So I start trying to track down her brother. And she tells me she told a friend in 2008, after Joe Biden had been picked as Barack Obama's vice president. She had told a version of this story to that friend, without all the details, but that something had happened to her. So I tracked down that friend, and she confirms that account and some of the things that Tara tells me.
    • michael barbaroWhere does that leave you?
    • lisa lererSo it leaves us with something, but certainly not enough to corroborate this entire story. We really only have the one friend with the full story, and everyone else is just giving us bits and pieces. So that's not the kind of full corroboration that you're looking for as a journalist, when you're trying to confirm really serious allegations and also really politically explosive allegations. But at this point, it's time to turn to the Biden side of things. So along with my colleague Sydney Ember, we start looking at who we can talk to. And we start by calling the three top staffers in the office at the time that Tara had mentioned she had spoken with, and she had raised those complaints of harassment to. All three of them say that a woman named Tara Reade never approached them with these kind of allegations, and two of them said they didn't remember her at all even working in the office.
    • michael barbaroSo just to be clear, the three people that Tara Reade said she went to and told of Biden's behavior that made her uncomfortable, pretty senior people in his office, they say they have no recollection of that ever happening?
    • lisa lererExactly. They have no recollection. And a lot of the former staffers are mystified by her account too. They don't remember anything like this, or even the hint of anything like this. So they '-- when Sydney and I call them, they're trying to reconcile themselves her story with what they remember from working in that office. A lot of them didn't want to talk on the record. One who did said that at the time, you knew who the good guys and bad guys were on the Senate. The places where '-- offices where women would and would not want to work, and she described Biden as one of the good guys.
    • michael barbaroMm-hmm.
    • lisa lererSo after that, we reached out to another group of people, which is the interns. And that's because Tara had told me that she supervised the interns, and that she shared an office with these interns. So I reached two of them, and they both tell me that they'd never heard of anything, never saw anything like the kind of harassment and assault Tara had been alleging. But that they did remember midway through their internship, sometime in April, she had been suddenly removed as their boss. And they never knew why, and they never saw her again. So amid all this confusion, I remember that there's one thing that really could cut through all this and clarify exactly what did or did not happen.
    • michael barbaroMm-hmm.
    • lisa lererAnd that's this complaint that Tara had told me she filed in 1993 with the Senate office '--
    • michael barbaroRight.
    • lisa lerer'-- and that someone had written down. So we start trying to track down that complaint. And we call the Federal Office of Personnel Management, and they tell us to file a Freedom of Information request, which would take months, if not years. And anyhow, we don't really know exactly what we're asking for, because she doesn't remember the name of the office where she filed this complaint.
    • michael barbaroRight.
    • lisa lererWe call over to the Senate and we're able to get some employment records, but not this complaint. So we basically look for this document and come up empty. It's unfindable in the end.
    • michael barbaroWhat about other aspects of Reade's life that might feel relevant? I mean, possible political affiliations or motivations. How do you begin to think and report on those?
    • lisa lererWell, so one thing that we want to be really sure of is that she is who she says she is. And that this isn't someone in the midst of a heated presidential campaign '-- that's only, of course, going to get more heated by all expectations '-- that is trying to push an agenda, or possibly pull a fast one on the media to try to get claims that are untrue out there in the public. So I really talked to her a lot about her political affiliation. She describes herself as a third-generation Democrat, but walks me through the fact that she liked Marianne Williamson. She really liked Elizabeth Warren. and when California voted in the primary over Super Tuesday, she backed Bernie Sanders. But she insists that her motivation for this is not political, even though I had watched as supporters of Sanders and supporters of President Trump, really, are the ones pushing this allegation out there on social media, and really keeping the drumbeat up for people to investigate it. So that's one concern. And there is this other unusual detail.
    • michael barbaroWhich is what?
    • lisa lererWell, she had written a fair amount in Medium posts and on Twitter about her support for Russia and her respect for Vladimir Putin. And so we read through all those Medium posts. Some of them had been pulled down off the internet, but we found them. We looked through those old Twitter posts, and we really tried to investigate whether there could be some kind of nefarious agenda there. And she says that she was misguided. Tara Reade says that she had been working on a novel '-- she's not anymore '-- about Russia, and this was all part of her research. And she says that she doesn't have any respect for Vladimir Putin now, has never been to Russia. So we decide that that's not so disqualifying that it prevents us from putting a version of her story in the paper.
    • michael barbaroSo how are you thinking about everything that you have reported at this point? And I assume, in consultation with your editors, how are you planning to proceed?
    • lisa lererWell, one thing we know is that we can't corroborate her story beyond the two friends and her brother.
    • michael barbaroMm-hmm.
    • lisa lererWe know we can't find any documents, and we know that everyone who worked for Joe Biden is denying that anything like this ever happened, or could have happened.
    • michael barbaroMm-hmm.
    • lisa lererAnd we also know one other thing. And this is really important. As far as we've learned in our reporting, there is no pattern of this kind of behavior from Joe Biden. What we had seen a year ago was a very different thing. It was touching in public, rubbing of shoulders, or maybe touching of hair that made some women feel uncomfortable. This is an allegation of a sexual assault. Those things are not at all similar. And in fact, what Tara Reade is alleging is a fairly singular act, as far as we know. But the Democratic Party, they've really set a very high standard for taking these cases seriously, for taking allegations of sexual abuse seriously. Even Joe Biden has taken a strong position on this, and it's worth remembering the Kavanaugh hearings. And one thing that Joe Biden said when that was all going on was this, he said: ''For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you've got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she's talking about is real, whether or not she forgets facts, whether or not it's been made worse or better over time. But nobody fails to understand that this is like jumping into a cauldron.
    • michael barbaroSo it's Biden himself saying, essentially, believe women.
    • lisa lererThat's exactly right. Biden essentially saying, believe women. And I think that explains part of the approach to these allegations that you've seen from his campaign. Joe Biden himself has not spoken about them at all, and I don't think he's been asked directly, although I suppose that could come. But his campaign has been very careful in all their public statements to say that they believe women, that they think coming out like this is a credible thing to do. But in this case, they say the allegations are false. But they're really walking a tightrope when they talk about this politically, with many in the base of the Democratic Party.
    • michael barbaroWell, help me understand that. I mean, with all that history in mind that you just described, of the Democratic Party setting such a high standard for itself '-- and Biden himself, the presumptive Democratic nominee, saying, believe women '-- how is the Democratic establishment, how is the Democratic Party responding to what Tara Reade has alleged happened to her?
    • lisa lererThey're not responding. Nobody in the Democratic establishment, elected officials, party leaders, has discussed this at all.
    • michael barbaroWhy do you think that is? I mean, is that a function of the conflicting information here? Is that party loyalty to the de facto nominee? Is that about the fact that there is just one of these accusations, not a pattern, as you just said? How do you explain that?
    • lisa lererWell, honestly, I think it's some of all of that. When I talk to people who are close to Joe Biden, and I've now talked to quite a lot of them, they say that this is something that's just so completely out of character for him. They describe a man who's fiercely devoted to his wife and his kids. That he would spend a lot of time focusing on when he could get the quickest train, the soonest train, home to Delaware so he could see them. And they just cannot reconcile these allegations that are out with the guy that they have known for all these decades. So they say they can't believe it's true. But when you look at the political calendar, we're in the spring of an election year, Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee. So you have to figure that many, many Democrats also just don't want this to be true.
    • [music]michael barbaroLisa, thank you very much.
    • lisa lererThanks for having me.
    • archived recording (bernie sanders)So today, I am asking all Americans '-- I'm asking every Democrat, I'm asking every independent, I'm asking a lot of Republicans to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse.
    • michael barbaroOn Monday, Joe Biden was endorsed by his former rival, Senator Bernie Sanders.
    • archived recording (joe biden)Well, Bernie I want to thank you for that. It's a big deal. I think that your endorsement means a great deal. It means a great deal to me.
    • michael barbaroWe'll be right back.
    • Here's what else you need to know today.
    • archived recording (emmanuel macron)[SPEAKING FRENCH]
    • michael barbaroOn Monday, France said it would extend a nationwide lockdown until the middle of May. Britain was expected to extend its lockdown. And Russia's president offered his darkest assessment yet of the virus's impact there.
    • archived recording (vladimir putin)[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
    • michael barbaroDuring a meeting with his advisors, Vladimir Putin said, quote, ''We see the situation changing daily. And unfortunately, not for the better.''
    • archived recording (andrew cuomo)Thank you very much. Good afternoon to everyone. Let me welcome my fellow governors, who are on the telephone, who you'll hear from in a moment.
    • michael barbaroIn the U.S., two groups of governors '-- one on the east coast, the other on the west coast '-- said they would decide regionally when and how to reopen their state's economies, and emphasized that they would not do so until experts and data showed that it would be safe.
    • archived recording (andrew cuomo)Again, we anticipate different facts, different circumstances for different states, different parts of states. But let's be smart and let's be cooperative. And let's learn from one another.
    • michael barbaroDuring a conference call, the governors, including Tom Wolfe of Pennsylvania, said that it was their role, not the federal government's, to make that decision.
    • archived recording (tom wolfe)Well, seeing as how had the responsibility for closing the state down, I think we probably have the primary responsibility for opening it up.
    • michael barbaroA few hours later, President Trump was asked about the governor's announcement.
    • archived recordingJust to clarify your understanding of your authority, vis- -vis governors, if a governor issued a stay at home '--
    • archived recording (donald trump)You say my authority. The president's authority. Not mine, because it's not me. This is '-- when somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that's the way it's got to be.
    • michael barbaroThe president insisted that the decision was his.
    • archived recordingYour authority's total?
    • archived recording (donald trump)It's total. It's total. And the governors know that.
    • archived recordingSo if a '--
    • archived recording (donald trump)The governors know that. You know, you have a couple of bands of '-- excuse me. Excuse me.
    • michael barbaroThat's it for ''The Daily.'' I'm Michael Barbaro. See you tomorrow.
    • Kate Conger and Rachel Shorey contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett contributed research.
    • Updated May 12, 2020
    • Joseph R. Biden Jr. rejected the notion that he is ''hiding'' at his Delaware home and declared that he is ''winning'' against President Trump. A special election in California will fill former Representative Katie Hill's seat. Wisconsin and Nebraska are also holding votes. Follow live results. Get an email recapping the day's news Download our mobile app on iOS and Android and turn on Breaking News and Politics alerts Listen to our podcast, The Field, on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
  • Race Will Win the Race: The Progressive Path to Victory
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    • Tue, 12 May 2020 22:25
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    • PowerPAC+ will bring together political strategists, elected officials, and organizational leaders to share key strategies to win by reaching out to America's multiracial majority. The day will be packed with expert-led panels that walk you through the data, the demographics, proven strategies, and case studies to engage and turn out voters of color. We'll share campaign and strategists ''must dos'' to save the Senate in 2014, and pave the way to a progressive victory in the White House in 2016.
    • WHEN
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    • Johanna Silva Waki ·
    • Featured Speakers:
    • Stacey Abrams
    • Georgia House Minority Leader
    • Key To Victory: South By Southwest Strategy
    • Cory Booker
    • U.S. Senate
    • Luncheon Special Guest Speaker
    • Trey Martinez Fischer
    • Texas House of Representatives
    • Key To Victory: South By Southwest Strategy
    • Marcia Fudge
    • U.S. House of Representatives
    • Opening Remarks
    • Mark Takano
    • U.S. House of Representatives
    • Key To Victory: South By Southwest Strategy
  • Stacey Abrams - Wikipedia
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    • Archived Version
    • Tue, 12 May 2020 22:04
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    • American politician
    • Stacey Yvonne Abrams (born December 9, 1973) is an American politician, lawyer, and author who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, and served as minority leader from 2011 to 2017.[1] A member of the Democratic Party, she was the party's nominee in the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election. Abrams lost to Brian Kemp in an election where Kemp was widely accused of voter suppression, though such claims have yet to be substantiated. Abrams was the first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States.[2] In February 2019, she became the first African-American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union address.
    • Early life and education [ edit ] Abrams, the second of six siblings, was born to Robert and Carolyn Abrams in Madison, Wisconsin, and raised in Gulfport, Mississippi.[3][4] The family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where her parents pursued graduate degrees and later became Methodist ministers.[5][6] She attended Avondale High School, where she was selected for a Telluride Association Summer Program.[7] While in high school, she was hired as a typist for a congressional campaign and at age 17 she was hired as a speechwriter based on the edits she had made while typing.[7]
    • In 1995 Abrams earned a Bachelor of Arts in interdisciplinary studies (political science, economics and sociology) from Spelman College, magna cum laude.[1] While in college she worked in the youth services department in the office of Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson.[7] She later interned at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.[7] As a freshman in 1992, Abrams took part in a protest on the steps of the Georgia Capitol, during which she joined in burning the state flag. At that time Georgia's state flag incorporated the Confederate battle flag, which had been added to the state flag in 1956 as an anti-civil rights movement action. The flag was designed by Southern Democrat John Sammons Bell, an attorney and Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia who was an outspoken supporter of segregation.[8][9]
    • As a Harry S. Truman Scholar, Abrams studied public policy at the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs, where she earned a Master of Public Affairs degree in 1998. In 1999 she earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.[1]
    • Legal and business career [ edit ] After graduating from law school, Abrams worked as a tax attorney at the Sutherland Asbill & Brennan law firm in Atlanta, with a focus on tax-exempt organizations, health care, and public finance.[1] In 2010, while a member of the Georgia General Assembly, Abrams co-founded and served as the senior vice president of NOW Corp. (formerly NOWaccount Network Corporation), a financial services firm.[10][11]
    • Abrams also co-founded Nourish, Inc., a beverage company with a focus on infants and toddlers,[12] and is CEO of Sage Works, a legal consulting firm that has represented clients including the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association.[13]
    • Political career [ edit ] In 2002, at age 29, Abrams was appointed the deputy city attorney for the City of Atlanta.[1][14]
    • Georgia General Assembly, 2007''2017 [ edit ] In 2006, Abrams ran from the 89th district for the Georgia House of Representatives, following JoAnn McClinton's announcement that she would not seek reelection. Abrams ran in the Democratic Party primary election against former state legislator George Maddox and political operative Dexter Porter. She outraised her two opponents and won the primary election with 51% of the vote, avoiding a runoff election.[15]
    • Abrams represented House District 89, which includes portions of the City of Atlanta and unincorporated DeKalb County,[16] covering the communities of Candler Park, Cedar Grove, Columbia, Druid Hills, Edgewood, Highland Park, Kelley Lake, Kirkwood, Lake Claire, South DeKalb, Toney Valley, and Tilson.[17] She served on the Appropriations, Ethics, Judiciary Non-Civil, Rules and Ways & Means committees.[18]
    • In November 2010, the Democratic caucus elected Abrams to succeed DuBose Porter as minority leader over Virgil Fludd.[19] Abrams's first major action as minority leader was to cooperate with Republican governor Nathan Deal's administration to reform the HOPE Scholarship program. She co-sponsored the 2011 legislation that preserved the HOPE program by decreasing the scholarship amount paid to Georgia students and funded a 1% low-interest loan program for students.[20]
    • According to Time magazine, Abrams "can credibly boast of having single-handedly stopped the largest tax increase in Georgia history."[21] In 2011 Abrams argued that a Republican proposal to cut income taxes while increasing a tax on cable service would lead to a net increase in taxes paid by most people.[21] She performed an analysis of the bill that showed that 82% of Georgians would see net tax increases, and left a copy of the analysis on the desk of every house legislator.[21] The bill subsequently failed.[21]
    • Abrams also worked with Deal on criminal-justice reforms that reduced prison costs without increasing crime,[21] and with Republicans on the state's biggest-ever public transportation funding package.[21]
    • On August 25, 2017, Abrams resigned from the General Assembly to focus on her gubernatorial campaign.[22]
    • 2018 gubernatorial campaign [ edit ] Abrams campaigning in 2018
    • Abrams ran for governor of Georgia in 2018.[23] In the Democratic primary she ran against Stacey Evans, another member of the Georgia House of Representatives,[23] in what some called "the battle of the Staceys". Abrams was endorsed by Bernie Sanders and Our Revolution.[24][25] On May 22, she won the Democratic nomination, making her the first black woman in the U.S. to be a major party's nominee for governor.[26]
    • After winning the primary, Abrams secured a number of high-profile endorsements, including one from former President Barack Obama.[27][28]
    • Almost a week before election day, the Republican nominee, Brian Kemp, cancelled a debate scheduled seven weeks earlier in order to attend a Trump rally in Georgia. Kemp blamed Abrams for the cancellation, saying that she was unwilling to reschedule it. Abrams responded, ''We refuse to callously take Georgians for granted and cancel on them. Just because Brian Kemp breaks his promises doesn't mean anyone else should.''[29]
    • As Georgia's secretary of state, Kemp oversaw the election in which he was competing. Abrams lost the election by 50,000 votes. Abrams considered but ultimately did not mount a legal challenge to the election results.[30] In her speech ending her campaign,[31] she announced the creation of Fair Fight Action, a voting rights nonprofit organization that sued the Secretary of State and state election board in federal court for voter suppression.[32] As of March 2020, the lawsuit was still ongoing.[33]
    • Since losing the election, Abrams has repeatedly claimed that the election was not fairly conducted[34] and that Kemp is not the legitimate governor of Georgia.[35] Her position is that Kemp, who oversaw the election in his role as Secretary of State, had a conflict of interest and suppressed turnout by purging nearly 670,000 voter registrations in 2017, and that about 53,000 voter registrations were pending a month before the election.[34][36] She has said, "I have no empirical evidence that I would have achieved a higher number of votes. However, I have sufficient and I think legally sufficient doubt about the process to say that it was not a fair election."[34]
    • After the gubernatorial election [ edit ] On January 29, 2019, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that Abrams would deliver the response to the State of the Union address on February 5.[37] She was the first African-American woman to give the rebuttal to the address, as well as the first and only non-office-holding person to do so since the SOTU responses began in 1966.[38]
    • On April 30, 2019, Abrams announced that she would not run for the U.S. Senate in 2020.[39]
    • On August 17, 2019, Abrams announced the founding of Fair Fight 2020,[40] an organization that will assist Democrats financially and technically to build voter protection teams in 20 states.[41] Abrams is Fair Fight Action 2020's chair.[42] Billionaire and former Republican New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg contributed $5 million shortly after announcing his run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.[43][44] On ABC's The View, Abrams defended Bloomberg's spending, saying, ''Every person is allowed to run and should run the race that they think they should run, and Mike Bloomberg has chosen to use his finances. Other people are using their dog, their charisma, their whatever.''[45] Abrams declined to endorse Bloomberg personally.[46]
    • Political positions [ edit ] Abrams is pro-choice, advocates for expanded gun control, and opposes proposals for stricter voter ID laws. Abrams has argued that voter ID laws disenfranchise minorities and the poor.[47][48] Abrams pledged to oppose legislation similar to the religious liberty bill that Governor Deal vetoed in 2016.[49][50]
    • Health care [ edit ] In her campaign for governor, Abrams said her top priority was Medicaid expansion.[21][51] She cited research showing that Medicaid expansion improved health care access for low-income residents and made hospitals in rural locations financially viable.[51] She also created a plan to address Georgia's high maternal mortality rate.[52]
    • Education [ edit ] Abrams would like to increase spending on public education.[21] She opposes private school vouchers, instead advocating improvements to the public education system. She supports smaller class sizes, more school counselors, protected pensions, better pay for teachers, and expanded early childhood education.[53]
    • Criminal justice reform [ edit ] Abrams supports criminal justice reform in the form of ending cash bail for poor defendants, ending the death penalty, and decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana possession.[54][47]
    • Writing career [ edit ] Under the pen name Selena Montgomery, Abrams is the award-winning author of several romantic suspense novels. According to Abrams, she has sold more than 100,000 copies of her novels.[18] She wrote her first novel during her third year at Yale Law School and published her most recent book in 2009.[55] Montgomery won both the Reviewer's Choice Award and the Reader's Favorite Award from Romance In Color for Best New Author, and was featured as a Rising Star.[56]
    • Abrams has published articles on public policy, taxation, and nonprofit organizations.[57] She is the author of Minority Leader: How to Lead from the Outside and Make Real Change, published by Henry Holt & Co. in April 2018.[58] Abrams is also the author of the upcoming book Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America, to be published by Henry Holt & Co. in June 2020.[59]
    • Honors and awards [ edit ] In 2012 Abrams received the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award from the Kennedy Library and Harvard University's Institute of Politics, which honors an elected official under 40 whose work demonstrates the impact of elective public service as a way to address public challenges.[60] In 2014 Governing Magazine named her a Public Official of the Year, an award that recognizes state and local official for outstanding accomplishments.[61] Abrams was recognized as one of "12 Rising Legislators to Watch" by the same publication in 2012[62] and one of the "100 Most Influential Georgians" by Georgia Trend for 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.[63]
    • EMILY's List recognized Abrams as the inaugural recipient of the Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award in 2014.[64] She was selected as an Aspen Rodel Fellow[65] and a Hunt-Kean Fellow.[66] She was also named as #11 on The Root 100 by The Root.[67] Abrams was named Legislator of the Year by the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, Public Servant of the Year by the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Outstanding Public Service by the Latin American Association, Champion for Georgia Cities by the Georgia Municipal Association, and Legislator of the Year by the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce.[68]
    • Abrams received the Georgia Legislative Service Award from the Association County Commissioners Georgia, the Democratic Legislator of the Year from the Young Democrats of Georgia and Red Clay Democrats, and an Environmental Leader Award from the Georgia Conservation Voters.[68] She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations,[69] a Next Generation Fellow of the American Assembly,[70] an American Marshall Memorial Fellow,[70] a Salzburg Seminar''Freeman Fellow on U.S.-East Asian Relations,[71] and a Yukos Fellow for U.S.''Russian Relations.[71]
    • Abrams received the Stevens Award for Outstanding Legal Contributions and the Elmer Staats Award for Public Service, both national honors presented by the Harry S. Truman Foundation.[72][73] She was also a 1994 Harry S. Truman Scholar.[74]
    • In 2001 Ebony named Abrams one of "30 Leaders of the Future".[75] In 2004 she was named to Georgia Trend's "40 Under 40" list,[76] and the Atlanta Business Chronicle named Abrams to its Top 50 Under 40 list. In 2006 she was named a Georgia Rising Star by Atlanta Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine.[77]
    • Abrams received a single vote, from Rep. Kathleen Rice, in the 2019 election for Speaker of the U.S. House.[78]
    • Other work [ edit ] Abrams serves on the boards of directors for Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, Atlanta Metropolitan State College Foundation, Gateway Center for the Homeless, and the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education; and on the advisory boards for Literacy Action and Health Students Taking Action Together (HSTAT). She also serves on the Board of Visitors for Agnes Scott College and the University of Georgia,[79] as well as on the Board of Advisors for Let America Vote (a voting rights organization founded by former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander).[80]
    • Abrams has completed seven international fellowships and traveled to "more than a dozen foreign countries" for policy work.[81][82] She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations[83] and spoke at CFR's Conference on Diversity in International Affairs in 2019.[84] She has also spoken at London's Chatham House[85], the National Security Action Forum[86], and a conference hosted by the Yale Kerry Initiative and Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.[87][88] In 2019, Abrams contributed an essay to Foreign Affairs magazine on how identity politics strengthens liberal democracy.[89][90]
    • Personal life [ edit ] Abrams is the second of six children born to Reverend Carolyn and Reverend Robert Abrams, originally of Mississippi.[5] Her siblings include Andrea Abrams, U.S. District Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, Richard Abrams, Walter Abrams and Dr. Jeanine Abrams McLean.[91][92]
    • In April 2018, Abrams wrote an op-ed for Fortune revealing that she owed $54,000 in federal back taxes and held $174,000 in credit card and student loan debt.[93] Abrams was repaying the IRS incrementally on a payment plan after deferring her 2015 and 2016 taxes, which she stated was necessary to help with her family's medical bills. During the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, Abrams donated $50,000 to her own campaign.[94][95] In 2019 she completed payment of her back taxes to the IRS in addition to other outstanding credit card and student loan debt reported during the gubernatorial campaign.[96]
    • References [ edit ] ^ a b c d e "Honorary Degree Recipient Stacey Yvonne Abrams". Spelman College. March 2017 . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ Bradner, Eric (May 22, 2018). "Stacey Abrams wins Democratic primary in Georgia". CNN . Retrieved May 23, 2018 . ^ Fouriezos, Nick (January 28, 2016). "Georgia's Daring Heroine on a Secret Mission". Yahoo! News . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ Sands, Darren (August 17, 2017). "Stacey Abrams Wants To Be The First Black Woman Governor. But First She Has To Win The Nomination". BuzzFeed News. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, to parents who were then a library sciences student and a shipyard worker, Abrams grew up in Gulfport, Mississippi. ^ a b Galloway, Jim (March 25, 2017). "The possibility of a Democratic race for governor between two Staceys". The Atlanta Journal Constitution . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ Ford, Ashley (September 28, 2016). "State Representative Stacey Abrams Is the Bright Future of American Politics". Lenny. Archived from the original on October 27, 2017 . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ a b c d Graves, Lucia (May 3, 2017). "Meet the Democrat who wants to be America's first black female governor". The Guardian . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ Richard Fausset, Stacey Abrams's Burning of Georgia Flag With Confederate Symbol Surfaces on Eve of Debate, New York Times (October 22, 2018). ^ Cleve R. Wootson Jr., 'I'm a proud Georgian': Stacey Abrams defends 1992 flag-burning protest, Washington Post (October 23, 2018). ^ Allison, David (April 28, 2014). "Small business payment firm NOWAccount Network raises $2M". Atlanta Business Chronicle . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ "NOWaccount". www.nowaccount.com. ^ Wade Talbert, Marcia (September 24, 2010). "Inventors Insider: 4 Rules for Inventing With a Partner". Black Enterprise . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ Hickey, Patrick (October 15, 2015). "House Minority Leader Abrams Talks New Georgia Project, Gig Economy and Upcoming Session". Southern Political Report . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ "Rep. Stacey Abrams reflects on MLK legacy in annual Centre convo". Centre College. January 12, 2017 . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/how-abrams-and-kemp-first-runs-for-office-helped-shape-their-careers/ieG0R9qtcNwb0rcr9Hb0IN/Bluestein, Greg (September 25, 2018). "How Abrams' and Kemp's first runs for office helped shape their careers". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Retrieved April 28, 2020 . ^ "Representative Stacey Abrams". www.house.ga.gov. ^ "Stacey Abrams for Georgia". Stacey Abrams for Governor. ^ a b "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 30, 2012 . Retrieved June 6, 2012 . CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) ^ "Georgia House Democrats elect Abrams minority leader". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Associated Press. November 11, 2010 . Retrieved April 28, 2020 . ^ "House approves HOPE bill, but challenges in Senate loom" . Retrieved September 28, 2015 . ^ a b c d e f g h "Stacey Abrams Could Become America's First Black Female Governor '' If She Can Turn Georgia Blue". Time . Retrieved July 30, 2018 . ^ Greg Bluestein, Political Insider blog. "Georgia 2018: Stacey Abrams resigns from House to focus on gov run". ajc. ^ a b Zito, Salena (June 25, 2017). "The fate of the Democrats' future may lie in Georgia". The Washington Examiner. Archived from the original on June 25, 2017 . Retrieved January 11, 2018 . ^ Stein, Letitia (December 20, 2017). "In Georgia, battle of the 'Staceys' tests Democrats' future". Reuters . Retrieved May 22, 2018 . ^ Catanese, David (May 21, 2018). "A Tale of Two Staceys in Georgia". U.S. News and World Report . Retrieved May 22, 2018 . ^ Bradner, Eric. "Stacey Abrams wins Democratic primary in Georgia. She could become the nation's first black woman governor". CNN . Retrieved May 22, 2018 . ^ "Barack and Michelle Obama just endorsed nearly 100 midterm candidates". NBC News . Retrieved August 2, 2018 . ^ "Obama versus Trump in Georgia? Ex-president lines up behind Abrams". politics.myajc . Retrieved August 2, 2018 . ^ "Final Debate in Georgia Governor's Race Canceled as Republican Breaks Schedule" . Retrieved November 1, 2018 . ^ "Abrams' team 'considering all options' in Georgia governor race". NBC News. Associated Press. November 16, 2018. ^ Timmons, Heather (November 19, 2018). "Stacey Abrams' concession speech is a powerful critique of US civil rights". Quartz. ^ Brumback, Kate (November 27, 2018). "Lawsuit challenging Georgia election process filed by Stacey Abrams-backed group". PBS. Associated Press. ^ Stuart, Tessa (March 1, 2020). "Stacey Abrams Is Building a New Kind of Political Machine in the Deep South". Rolling Stone. ^ a b c "Why Stacey Abrams Is Still Saying She Won" . Retrieved April 29, 2019 . ^ "Stacey Abrams calls Kemp Georgia's 'legal' governor, won't say he's legitimate". CNN. CNN. November 18, 2018 . Retrieved June 9, 2019 . ^ Nadler, Ben (October 11, 2018). "Georgia Republican candidate for governor puts 53,000 voter registrations on hold", USA Today. ^ Levine, Marianne. "Stacey Abrams to give Democratic response to State of the Union". POLITICO . Retrieved January 30, 2019 . ^ Hallerman, Tamar; Bluestein, Greg. "Abrams to deliver Dems' State of the Union response". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Retrieved February 23, 2019 . ^ "Stacey Abrams Will Not Run for Senate in 2020" . Retrieved April 29, 2019 . ^ "Abrams brings Fair Fight 2020 to Georgia". AP NEWS. August 18, 2019. ^ EmailEmailBioBioFollowFollow, Vanessa Williams closeVanessa WilliamsReporter on the National desk. "Stacey Abrams chooses building a national voter protection program over running for president in 2020". Washington Post. ^ https://fairfight.com/our-team/ ^ "Abrams' voting rights PAC hauls in almost $15 million". The Fulcrum. January 9, 2020. ^ Bluestein, Greg. "Bloomberg to join Abrams' voting rights summit on Friday in Atlanta". ajc. ^ Shah, Khushbu (March 1, 2020). " ' I might vote for him': how Bloomberg is courting Georgia's liberals" '' via www.theguardian.com. ^ Galloway, Jim (February 19, 2020). "Stacey Abrams takes heat for defense of Michael Bloomberg's cash-rich campaign". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ^ a b "Abrams-Kemp Georgia gov race matchup sets up a sharp November contrast". politics.myajc . Retrieved August 7, 2018 . ^ "Jobs, jobs, jobs: Abrams touts economic plan '' and avoids Kemp attack". politics.myajc . Retrieved August 7, 2018 . ^ "In Georgia Governor's Race, a Defining Moment for a Southern State" . Retrieved July 30, 2018 . ^ "Analysis | Georgia's gubernatorial race may be the purest example of politics in the Trump era". Washington Post . Retrieved July 30, 2018 . ^ a b "Stacey Abrams Hopes Medicaid Expansion Can Be a Winning Issue in Rural Georgia" . Retrieved October 24, 2018 . ^ II, Story by Vann R. Newkirk. "Stacey Abrams's Prescription for a Maternal-Health Crisis" '' via The Atlantic. ^ Tagami, Ty. "Abrams has an expansive (and expensive?) education plan". ajc. ^ "Abrams pledges to eliminate cash bail system, decriminalize some marijuana offenses". politics.myajc . Retrieved August 7, 2018 . ^ Krug, Nora (October 22, 2018). "How Stacey Abrams turned heartbreak into a career plan '-- and romance novels". Washington Post . Retrieved April 29, 2020 . ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on November 20, 2010 . Retrieved June 6, 2012 . CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) ^ "Stacey Abrams Author References". www.huffingtonpost.com. ^ "Minority Leader '' Stacey Abrams". macmillan.com. ^ "Our Time Is Now: Power, Purpose, and the Fight for a Fair America '' Stacey Abrams". macmillan.com. ^ "Stacey Abrams 2012". www.jfklibrary.org. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. ^ "Stacey Abrams, Georgia". www.governing.com. ^ "12 State Legislators to Watch in 2012". www.governing.com. ^ "100 Most Influential Georgians". www.georgiatrend.com. Georgia Trend. ^ "Stacey Abrams Receives First Ever Gabrielle Giffords Rising Star Award". Emily's List . Retrieved October 20, 2018 . ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 13, 2015 . Retrieved January 22, 2015 . CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) ^ "Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellows". The Hunt Institute. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 28, 2015 . Retrieved January 26, 2015 . CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) ^ a b "Speakers". Governing . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ Gould Sheinin, Aaron. "DNC 2016: Five things to know about Stacey Abrams". The Atlanta Journal Constitution . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ a b "Ga. State House of Representatives Minority Leader Stacey Abrams to Keynote 2011 Buttimer Dinner". The Savannah Tribune. October 19, 2011 . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ a b St. Claire, Pat (March 12, 2015). "House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams: Accomplished And Driven". GPB . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ "Rep Stacey Abrams" (PDF) . House.ga.gov. ^ "Harry Truman America's Truman Scholars" (PDF) . Truman.gov. ^ "Search Our Scholars | The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation". www.truman.gov . Retrieved February 1, 2017 . ^ "30 Leaders of the Future". Ebony Magazine. December 2001 . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ Kirkpatrick, Karen (October 2016). "Georgia Trend's 2016 40 Under 40". Georgia Trend . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ Barry, Tom. "Stacey Abrams' life is Action-Packed! And Spine-Tingling! Even without the spy novels she writes". Super Lawyers . Retrieved May 9, 2017 . ^ McPherson, Lindsey; McPherson, Lindsey (January 3, 2019). "Pelosi elected speaker with 15 Democratic defections" '' via www.rollcall.com. ^ "Agnes Scott College '' Board of Visitors". www.agnesscott.edu . Retrieved August 25, 2017 . ^ "Advisors". Let America Vote . Retrieved May 1, 2018 . ^ Stuart, Tessa (March 1, 2020). "Stacey Abrams Is Building a New Kind of Political Machine in the Deep South". Rolling Stone. ^ Chambers, Francesca (February 24, 2020). "Former Georgia lawmaker Stacey Abrams is laying the groundwork for the White House". McClatchy. ^ Gould Sheinin, Aaron (July 25, 2016). "DNC 2016: Five things to know about Stacey Abrams". Atlanta Journal Constitution. ^ "A Conversation With Stacey Abrams". cfr.org. Council on Foreign Relations. May 10, 2019. ^ Porter, Tom (March 7, 2019). "Stacey Abrams thinks Democrats need to totally change their playbook to beat Trump in 2020 '-- here's how". Business Insider. ^ McLaughlin, Seth (May 10, 2019). "Flirting with presidential bid, Stacey Abrams talks foreign policy". Washington Times. ^ "Kerry Initiative conference to address challenges to democracy". Yale Kerry Initiative. April 3, 2019. ^ Hicks, Markeshia (April 21, 2019). "Abrams sounds alarm for democracy". The Connecticut Mirror. ^ Abrams, Stacey. "Identity Politics Strengthens Democracy". Foreign Affairs . Retrieved March 14, 2020 . ^ Beauchamp, Zack (February 20, 2020). "Identity politics isn't hurting liberalism. It's saving it". Vox.com. ^ Malloy, Daniel (March 11, 2014). "Obama nominates Leslie Abrams '' Stacey's sister '' for federal judgeship". The Atlanta Journal Constitution . Retrieved May 21, 2018 . ^ "U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 113th Congress '' 2nd Session". Vote Summary: Vote Number 281. United States Senate . Retrieved May 21, 2018 . ^ Wattles, Jackie (April 25, 2018). "Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams is $200,000 in debt. She's not alone". CNN Money . Retrieved May 23, 2018 . ^ Bluestein, Greg. "Georgia 2018: Abrams owes more than $50K to IRS". Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Retrieved April 28, 2019 . ^ "2017 - Amended Financial Disclosure Statement -- Candidate for Public Office". State of Georgia . Retrieved April 28, 2019 . ^ Bluestein, Greg (May 16, 2019). "Abrams settles IRS debt as she preps for another run for office". AJC. External links [ edit ] Georgia House of Representatives bioCampaign websiteAppearances on C-SPAN Stacey Abrams at Ballotpedia
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    • Sen. Tom Daschle, ChairNeera Tanden, PresidentStacey AbramsSteve DaetzGlenn HutchinsEric MindichKristin MugfordJohn PodestaDonald SussmanHansj¶rg Wyss

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